Price 50¢ : 


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wr 2 Y ‘f ¢ bes ~o-oX 


JRutus Blanchard 
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R.Blanchard and Company, 
WHEATON,ILL. 


& gemss, a Bed 
Listen’ 


3 The New Jerusalem Church. 641 


“ithe New Church, furnished at his own expense the various 


yw 


places occupied by the Society for worship, and for the transac- 


tion of its business, and procured and kept for sale the writings 


of Swedenborg, until the church rooms were procured in a build- 


~ing erected by Mr. Harrison Newhall, at the north-east corner of 
“Dearborn and Randolph streets, and fitted up as a place for pub- 


? 
wut 


~ 


“lie worship. 


In addition to this generosity, Mr. Scammon subscribed lib- 
erally at all times for the replenishing of the treasury, and keep- 
he the Society free from debt. 

he pastor labored successfully for the interests of the Society, 
and preached most of the time on Sabbath mornings in the Saloon 
Building, till some time in 1851, when the church rooms were 
secured and fitted up on the corner of Dearborn and Randolph 
streets. Inthis new place for worship quite a large congregation 
attended the public services on the Sabbath, and it became quite 
apparent that Mr. Hibbard’s labors were not only satisfactory to: 
the Society, but eminently efficient in spreading a knowledge of 
the Heavenly Doctrines. A library had been established, and 
from this source general New Church reading had been provided. 
At the annnal meeting, held January 12, 1852, the treasurer re- 
ported that the Society was in a healthy financial condition, its. 
debts all paid, and a smail balance in the treasury. 

At the annual meeting held Jany. 11, 1850, a committee on 
music was appointed to superintend this department of public 
worship, and to effect its introduction, wheu they thought best, 
into the regular exercises of the Sabbath. It was voted in 1852, at 
the annual meeting, that the pastor or any member of the Exeeu- 
tive Committee might consider himself a representative of the 
Society in any general body of the church, when not otherwise 
specially represented. 

It does not appear on the records when the Society first pro- 
vided a Sunday School. The first time mentioned is in the rec- 
ords of the meeting of the Executive Committee March 25,1852, 
when thirty dollars were appropriated for a Sunday School Li- 
brary. 

ii the fall and winter Rev. B. F. Barrett delivered a course of 
lectures on Sunday evenings to crowded houses in the new church 


_ e-rooms, and also supplied the pulpit when the pastor was absent 


as a missionary and superintendent of the Illinois Association. 


From a resolution recorded on March 6th, 1853, it would appear 


that Mr. Barrett’s labors were highly appreciated and approved 
of by the Society. 

The Illinois Association, of which the Chicago Society and its 
members had from the first been a part, had held up to this time 


41 


642 The New Jerusalem Church. 


two annual sessions in the church rooms in Chicago, and it was 
woted this year, 1852, to invite the General Convention of the 
New Church in the U. §. to meet in Chicago in June, 1853. 

It met here, and its sessions were held in New hall's Tall, be- 
fore referred to, and subsequently, in the years 1860, 1868, 1871, 
the General Convention has been held in Chicago. 

From Newhall’s Hall the Society removed to a schoolhouse, 
purchased by. it, on the north side of Adams street, between 
Wabash avenue and State street, and caused a school, kept by Mr. 
H. O. Snow, a New churchman, to be established there.” The 
Society remained there until the ‘winter of 1857, when the build- 
ing was destroyed by fire. From thence it removed to an old 
church building which had been originally built by the Second 
Presbyterian Chureh, and had been removed to Harrison street, _ 
which was purchased by the Society and occupied by it until it 
built its new and commodious stone temple on Adams street, on 
the lot secured by Mr. Scammon in 1848, as before stated. 

It remained here until the great fire of October 9, 1871, de- 
stroyed it, together with a mission church building which it had 
placed upon a lot at the junction of Clark and LaSalle streets, 
opposite Lincoln Park. This temple was a very convenient build- 
ing, containing, beside the church proper, a basement room for 
social meetings, a pastor’s study and library room, and a residence 
for the janitor. ‘The Society had great prosperity, pecuniarily 
and otherwise. | 

Through the Rev. John H. Ragatoz,a German congregation 
and society were established and church built in the northwest 
part of the city, on Ashland avenue, just north of Chicago avenue, 
which is now used for worship by the German Society. 

It had also a mission church at the corner of Thirty-third 
street and South Park avenue, in which services were held until 
the building of the New Chureh Hall on Eighteenth street, near 
the corner of Prairie avenue. 

After the great fire the Society sold its church lot on Adams 
street, and with the proceeds purchased the property on Eight- 
eenth street, and a church lot at the corner of West Washington 
and Ogden avenues, and caused places of worship to be erected 
won them, and secured a residence for. the pastor adjoining the 
Eighteenth street Hall. 

Mr. Hibbard’s health failing, leave of absence was given him 
in 1871, and he went to Europe for his health. During his ab- 
‘sence, and for some time before, the Rev. Calvin Day N oble was 
employed to preach for the Society as Mr. HWibbard’s assistant. 
‘On Mr. Hibbard’s return theie was a division in the Society, a 
‘part of the con: regation preferring Mr. Noble. These forded 


The New Jerusalem Church. 643 


themselves into a second society under Mr. Noble, but it was dis- 
solved shortly after Mr. Noble left, and it has now gone out of 
existence. 

The panic of 1873 completed the financial ruin of many 
of the leading members of the Society who had been greatly 
embarrassed by the great and subsequent fires, so that the Soci- 
ety was no longer able to support their pastor, and he was 
employed as the general missionary of the General Convention. 
In March, 1877, those members of the church who thought that a 
younger minister and more central place of worship were desir- 
able, formed a new society, called the Union Swedenborgian Soci- 
ety, invited the Rev. L. P. Mercer to become their pastor, and 
established worship in Hershey Hal, on Madison street, between 
State and Dearborn streets, where he has preached since and is 
now preaching. | 

Worship and Sunday School are kept up in the North and 
West side places of worship, the Rev. W. F. Pendleton acting 
as minister. No regular worship has been had in Eighteenth 
strect hall since Mr. Hibbard’s resignation in 1877, although 
for a portion of the time Dr. A. E. Small has conducted the 
services, and Mr. O. L. Barlerand others have preached there, 
and Sunday School has been maintained under the superintend- 
ence, first, of Miss Auanna E. Scammon, and subsequently of Mr. 
It. A. Keyes. 

From the beginning New Church books have been kept for 
sale, and New Church libraries maintained. The first books were 
placed, in 1838, in the book-store of Mr. S. F. Gale, the first hook- 
seller in Chicago. The great fire of 1871 destroyed both a large 
stock of books kept for sale, and the New Church Library. A 
new supply was obtained, and the nucleus of a new library estab- 
lished on the three sides of the river, or in the three Divisions of 
the city, but the general embarrassinents of the members of the 
Society have rendered all their efforts feeble, and very little has 
been accomplished. Many hope for a new state of things with 
returning prosperity. 

It has been the aim of the Society to avoid incurring debts, 
and it has avoided them, except in obtaining places of worship. 
Debts have all been promptly paid off, except two for $5,000 
each, and interest and taxes on the two places of worship at 
Eighteenth street and West Washington avenue. It was not the 
intention to incur those, but unforeseen circumstances kept those 
debts upon our hands, the two buildings costing $10,000 more 
than was intended. 

The members hope soon to get out of debt, and keep out. 
The Society has always provided for its own poor. It has al- 


644 The New Jerusalem Church. 


ways recognized the duty of every one contributing to the sup- 
port of the church as the Lord should give him ability, and 
there has been a general, though not universal, endeavor to act 
up to this principle. 

Of the members of the Society who signed the original articles 
of association, only Mr. J. Young Scammon is living. He oe- 
cupies his law office in the building at the southeast corner of 
Lake and Clark streets, where he had his office forty-four years 
ago, in 1836. Of those who have gone, Dr. Franklin Scammon 
and Mr. John Sears, Jr., remembered the Society in their wills. 
The executors of the latter paid over 10 per cent. of the estate 
to the society. 

The Society cannot be said to be a proselyting community. It 
considers that it is its duty to provide means for making*known 
the doctrines of the New Church, and instructing those who de- 
sire such instruction. The members of the old Board of Trus- 
tees have generally been re-elected, and Mr. Scammon was chair- 
man of its Executive Committee until he was left out of the 
board, in 1877, at his request. 

But a vacancy occurring, an urgent and unanimous request 
was presented to him to resume his membership, which he con- 
sented to do upon the condition that he should not be expected to 
attend its meetings when it was not convenient for him to do so. 
On his retirement, Dr. Alvan E. Small was elected Chairman, 
and Alexander Officer Vice-Chairman, which positions they con- 
tinue to hold. Mr. R. A. Keyes is Secretary, and Mr. Olof Ben- 
ton Assistant Secretary. The Treasurer is Mr. Willet Northup, 
who has held that office for many years. He is also Treasurer of 
the Illinois Association. These gentlemen, together with J. 
Young Scammon, Robert E. Moss, Wm. A. Barton, James M. 
Hill, H.S. Maynard and Orlando Blackman, constitute the Execn- 
tive Committee, which has charge of the affairs of the Society. 

The action of the Society has usually been very harmonious, 
and a willingness to abide for the time being by the decision of 
the majority has generally, if not always, been expressed, while 
the wishes and feelings of the minority have always been re- 
spected. — ; 


Barly Chicago Methodism. 645 


EARLY CHICAGO METHODISM. 
BY REV. ARTHUR EDWARDS, D. D. 


Civil records show that in 1831 Chicago contained but about a 
dozen families. The inevitable and indefatigable Methodist 
preacher was not far off. Church records show that in 1831 the 
old Illinois Conference had a Sangamon district, in which there 
was a “ Chicago Mission.” In the year last named Rev. Jesse 
Walker was appointed missionary to Chicago. This sainted ec- 
clesiastical “ Pathfinder,” even in 1831, had alr eady seen twenty- 
nine years of border service as a minister of the Gospel. In 
1806, under the leadership of William McKendree, who was 
atterwards a bishop, Walker entered Illinois asa missionary to 
the entire territory. These twodevoted men traveled the un- 
broken wilderness between Kentucky and the heart of Illinois on 
horseback. They slept under their saddle-blankets beneath the 
smiling skies, and cooked their own meals in true pioneer style. 
Sometimes, perhaps, they thought the stars smiled grimly, 
for it is recorded there was much rain, rivers were overflowing, and 
during the journey their horses swam the swollen streams, while the 
riders carried their garments and Bibles across in their hands, 
raised high above their saddles. McKendree tarried a few weeks 
and returned to Kentucky. Walker remained alone, and by 

constant itinerating and camp meetings, succeeded in his noble 
work as he was accustomed todo. The fruits of his labor, and of 
the few who aided him in the ministry, is attested by the form- 
ation of the [linois Conference in 1816. This conterence, it is 
characteristically said, “had no boundary on the west, included 
the last Methodist cabin toward the setting sun, and took in all 
Missouri and Illinois, and the western half of Indiana.” 

They tell us that this tireless Jesse Walker had met Daniel 
Boone in Kentucky. Dr. Abel Stevens, the Methodist histori- 
an, says that Walker “ was to the Church what Boone was_ to 
the early settler—always first, always ahead of everbody else, pre- 
ceding all others long enough to be the pilot of the new-comer. 
Somewhere in the tide of pure, bounding blood that has nour- 
ished Chicago into a hardy metropolis, there throbs the pulse 
in church life which Jesse Walker stimulated when he came to 
the village in 1831. He lived here in that year, and when he 
was away on duty at distant points, his pulpit was filled by 
William See, the United States blacksmith, at the Chicago post, 
who had once been a minister in the Illinois conference. These 


646 Early Chicago Methodism. 


two minist.rs, and Mrs. Col. R. J. Hamilton, were the first of 
Chicago Methodists. 

In 1832 a Mission district was for med, of which Jesse Walker 
was the presiding elder. ev. Stephen R. Beggs, who yet sur. 
vives, was pastor of Chicago station in that mission district. 
In 1833 Walker was both at the head of the district and pastor 
of “Chicago Mission.” In that year the first quarterly con- 
ference was held in the * Watkins School-house,” at the corner of 
North LaSalle and Water streets. At the Lord’s table during 
this quarterly meeting, there were present: William See and 
Henry Whitehead who were local preachers, Mrs. See, Charles 
Wisencraft and wife, Father Noble, Mrs Col. R. J. Hamilton 
and Mrs. Harriet Harmon. Mr. Whitehead, who survives, is a 
superannuated member of the present [tock River conference. 
In 1884 the first Methodist “class” was formed, and Charles 
Wisencraft was appointed “Class Leader.” These worshipped 
in Indian Chief Billy Caldwell’s log council house on the North 
Side, not far from the corner of Franklin and Water streets, or 
in Ingersoll’s tavern, on the west side of the river, between Ful- 
ton and Lake streets, or ina building on the North Side, be- 
tween LaSalle and Clark streets. 

The first church was built in 1834, by Henry Whitehead and 
John Stewart. The original contract is in Mr. Whitehead’s 
possession. The briefdocument provides for a “trame building, 
twenty-six feet by 38; 12 feet posts; sheeted and shingled 
roof; seats with broad backs, and a rail of separation down the 
middle; a neat pulpit; a platform for a table and chairs; the 
whole to be done in a workman-like manner,” and for the sum 
of $580. The contract bears the autograph of Jesse Walker, who 
agrees to accept; ‘these propositions given by Messrs. White- 
head & Stewart, on the part of the Methodist Episcopal church, 
signed June 380, 1834.” The house was duly erected on the 
north side, at the corner of Clark and Water streets. The aged 
Jesse Walker became superannuated in 1834, and died in holy 
trinmph in October of 18385. In 1834 Rev. J. T. Mitchell be- 
came pastor, and the church was strengthened. In 1836, the lots 
at the corner of Clark and Washington streets were purchased 
through Robinson Tripp, who survives asa member of thie 
church, now standing on them. 

In the fall of 1836 O.'T. Curtis became pastor, but in the finan- 
cial crash of the following year, loss, scandal, and overbearing 
moral pressure, tested the “church er uelly in common with the en. 
tire city and country. Men. remember to this day the devout 
and devoted Peter R. Borein, who was sent as pastor in the 
autumn of 1837. A year later a revival began under the labors 


oo 


Lrarly Chicago Methodism. 647 


of this good man, and so greatly did the interest affect all classes, 
that three hundred, or about one-tenth of the entire population 
of the young city joined old Clark St. Church. Mr. Borein died 
soon after, and his last sermon is spoken of till this day. In the 
winter between 1837 and 1838, the church was moved over on 
the ice from the North side to the lots purchased in 1836, as 
stated. The house was enlarged to twice its original size. In 
1839 8. Stocking became pastor, and he was followed by Hooper 
Crews, who served in 1840 and 1841, and who is still at work in 
the Rock River Conference. During his pastorate, the house 
was again enlarged as before. In 1842, under the pastorate of 
N. P. Cunningham, the church again became too small. In 
1843 Rev. Luke Hitchcock, still living, was appointed pastor, and 
a colony from the old church, under the pastorate of Abram | 
Hanson, built a church on Canal Street. This colony afterwards 
became Jefferson Street church, and, later, Centenary church. 

In 1844 Wm. M. D. Ryan became pastor of Clark St., with 
Warren Oliver as assistant. Revivals followed, and the often 
enlarged house became too small again. A new building that 
cost $12,000 was dedicated in November, 1845. In 1846 
Chauncey Hobart was pastor. In 1847 “ Indiana street ” church 
was set off from Clark St., and the colony is now identified as 
“Grace Church.” Rev. Philo Judson was pastor at the “ old 
hive” in this year. In 1848 Richard Haney was sent to Clark 
St. 
and he was returned in 1849. Rev. Stephen P. Keyes followed 
in 1850; Rev. John Clark in 1852; Rev. Hooper Crews in 1854; 
Rev. James Baume in 1856; Rev. W. F. Stewart in 1858; Rev. 
O. H. Tiffany in 1860; Rev. F. D. Hemenway in 1865; Rev. C. 
H. Fowler in 1868; Rev. W. ©. Dandy in 1866; Rev. J. A. 
Gray in 1867; Rev. W. H. Daniels in 1869; Rev. H. W. Thom- 
as in 1872; Rev. 8. A. W. Jewett in 1875; Revs. M. M. Park- 
hurst and W. A. Spencer in 1876; and in 1879, Rev. J. Wil- 
liamson. 

In 1858, under a charter, a new “church block ” was erected 
for the mother society at Clark street, at a cost of $70,000. The 
plan was to build a business block, in which stores and offices 
were to yield rents for the support of the church on the third 
floor. Notwithstanding the panie of 1857 and 1848, the trustees 
funded the debt of $70,000, paid taxes and insurance, and carried 
the project through. In 1865 the noble trustees began to aid 
sister Methodist Churches in tlie city, and few now existing have 
failed to secure help. From 1865 to 1871, the board had extended 
aid to the extent of over $70,000, the original cost of the first 
“block.” This building perished in the fire of October, 1871, but 


648 Early Chicago Methodism. 


was replaced by a new one that cost $120,000, in 1872. The re- 
building was made possible by insurance on the old building, of 
$65, 600, and funds, given by Methodists to the fire fund, to the 
extent of $10,00V0. ~ This “old Clark Street”? Block is lnown 
all through the Church, and it has made a fragrant memory for 
itself. The erand men who were trustees under the charter of 

1857, were Grant Goodrich, J.K. Botsford, Wm. Wheeler, Orring- 
ton Lunt, J. V. Farwell, J. W. Waughop and John Hayward. 
All survive save Mr. Wheeler. 

It is impossible to give space to detailed histories of many 
churches which have been colonized from the original church, or 
from its derivatives. A table at the end of this chapter will 
name them, and include the major items relating to their present 
status. Each church has its shining record of devout men and 
women. All are active and charateristically useful. The 
denomination has been an important factor in the city’s history, 
and to‘this hour it is grateful to co-work with sister denomi- 
nations in promoting the best interests of mankind. 

Among the most heroic, self-denying and successful ministers 
and churches are those of the German, and the various Scandi- 
navian component parts of the Methodist Churches working in 
the city. They are represented in the tables given below. "No 
pen can duly estimate the good they have done and are doing 
among the populations most. “directly. concerned. Their work is 
very successful. 

The Germans read the Apologist, edited by Dr. W. Nast, in 
Cincinnati, and the Swedes the Sandebudet, Chicago, edited suc- 
cessfully by V. Witting, N. O. Westergren, and Dr. Wm. Uen- 
schen. "The Chicago Depository, a branch of the Western Meth- 
odist Book Concern, was established in 1852. It purchased val- 
unable property at 66 Washington St., which was exchanged after 
the great fire of 1871, for other property at 57 Washington St. 

tev. Luke Hitchcock, D. D., whose name has already baen men- 
tioned in this sketch, and who for twenty years served as an agent 
of the Book Concern, has lived in Chicago and has done much to 
make the Western Concern and the Chicago Depository a success. 
Rev. Drs. J. M. Walden and W. P. Stowe are the present agents. 
The Northwestern Christian Advocate was established as an or- 
gan of the church, in Chicago, in 1852. Rev. J. V. Watson, D. D., 
was editor until 1856. Rev. T. M. Eddy, D. D., followed as 
editor in 1856 and served until 1868. In that year Rev. J. M. 
Reid, D. D., became editor, and in 1872 Rev. Arthur Edwards, 
D. D., (who had served as assistant editor from 1864) was elected 
editor, and he is now serving as such. The paper has a circula- 
tion larger than that of any Evangelical church in the West, 


Early Chicago Methodism. 649 


save one, and that belongs to the Methodist Church, and is pub- 
lished in Cincinnati. tn 

The following statements relate to Methodist Episcopal 
Churches situated within the present city limits. The year of 
the appointment of the first pastor expresses approximately the 
date of the organization of the respective Churches : 

Cutcoaco Mission (now First Church, or “Old Clark Street”) 
Autumn of 1830, Jesse Walker; 1831, 8S. R. Beggs; 1832, Jesse 
Walker; 1834, John T. Mitchell; 1836, O. F. Curtis; 1837, Peter 
kt. Borien; 1839, 8. H. Stocking; 1840, H. Crewes; 1842, N. P. 
Cunningham; 1843, L. Hitchcock and A. Hanson; 1844, W. M. 
D. Ryan and W. Oliver; 1846, C. Hobart; 1847, P. Judson; 
1848, Kk. Haney; 1850, 8S. P. Keyes; 1852, John Clark; 1854, 
Hooper Crews;1856, James Baume; 1858, W. F. Stewart; 1860, 
O. H. Tiffany; 1862, F. D. Hemenway; 1863, C. H. Fowler; 
1866, W. C. Dandy; 1867, J. W. Gray; 1869, W. H. Daniels; 
1872, H. W. Thomas; 1875, 8S. A. W. Jewett; 1876, M. M. 
Parkhurst and W. A. Spencer; 1879 John Williamson. 

Canat St.— Next “ Jerrerson St; ” and now “ Cenrenary.”— 
1845, Sius Bolles; 1847, Harvey S. Brunson; 1848, R. A. Blan- 
chard; 1850, Wm Palmer; 1852, James E. Wilson and Wm. 
Keegan ;—Jefferson St.—1853, E. H. Gammon; 1854, Sius Bol- 
les; 1855, J. F. Chaffee; 1857, S. P. Keyes; 1858, R. J. White; 
1859, W. McKaig; 1861, C. H. Fowler; 1863, Robert Bentley; 
1864, Chas. Shelling; 1865, supplied;—Centenary—1866, C. ir 
Fowler; 1867, R. M. Hatfield; 1870, OC. H. Fowler; 1873, J. O. 
Peck; 1875, S. H. Adams; 1877, H. W. Thomas; 1880, A. C. 
George. 

Inprana Sr.—(Grace.)—1847, Freeborn Haney; 1848, John 
F. Devore; 1849, Zadok Hall; 1850, Boyd Lowe; 1851, John W. 
Agard; 1852, Sius Bolles; 1854, Thomas Williams; 1857, 8. G. 
Lathrop; 1859, H. Whipple; 1861, L. H. Bugbee; 1863, J. C. 
Stoughton.—G@race.—1864, O. H. Tiffany; 1867, A. J. Jutkins; 
1870, M. M. Parkhurst; 1878, C. E. Felton; 1875, John Atkin- 
son; 1878, R. D. Sheppard. 

Trinity.—1864, J. H. Vincent; 1865, Wm. A. Smith; 1866, 
S. A. W. Jewett; 1868, T. M. Eddy; 1869, J. H. Bayliss; 1871, 
S. McChesney; 1874, O. H. Tiffany; 1877, W. F. Crafts; 1879, 
R. B. Pope. | 

Srats St.—Wasaso Ave.—1852, N. P. Heath; 1853, F.. A. 
Read; 1855, W. B. Slaughter;— Wabash Avenue—1857, Wm. M. 
D. Ryan; 1859, W. Krebs; 1860, H. Cox; 1862, hk. L. Collier; 
1865, R. M. Hatfield; 1867, C. H. Fowler; 1870, R. M. Hatfield; 
1871, S. McChesney; 1872, J. F. McClelland; 1873, J. L. G. 
MecKown; 1874, John Williamson; 1876, A. W. Patten; 1879 
F. W. Bristol. 


650 Larly Chicago Methodism. 


Owen Str.—Apa Sr.—1853, 8S. Guyer; 1855, C. French; 1856, 
Wm. Tasker; 1857, 1858 ane 1859, supplied; — West Indiana St. 
—1860, Jacob Hartman; 1862 , supplied; 1863, Wm. D. Skel- 
— ton; 1866, Robert Bently; 1868, J. Hartwell: 1869, W. F. Stew- 
art; Ada St.>-18TO#TeR: Strobridge; 1873, W.O. Dandy; 1874, 
J. L. G. McKown; 1875, J. M. Caldwell; 1877; S.\ He A Ggarniay 
1880, A. Gurney. 

BripaEport.—Simpson CHapret.—1862, Peter K. Rye; 1863, 
M. B. Cleveland; 1864, Joseph Wardle; 1865 and 1866, sup- 
plied; 1867, E. W. Fs ay :— Simpson Chapel. —1868, W. Thatcher; 
1870, H. W. Scovil le; 1871, H. Hill; 1874, A. Youker; 1877, 
TONER Alling. 

Dixon Sr-—1870, i. P. Marsh; 1872,\J. H. Thomas;° 187% 
and 1874, supplied; 1875, E.C. Arnold; 1877, E. M. Boring. 

Dus Prarmves St.—Maxwertt Sr.—Sr. Pavr’s.—1857, H. 
Whipple; 1859, supplied; 1860, E. Stone; 1862, L .Hawkins; 
1863, H. M.* Boring; 1864, T. L. Olmsted; 1865, 8. Guyer;— 
Maxwell Street.—1866, A. T. Needham; 1868, E. W. Fay; 
1869, W. H. Burns; 1872, 8. G. Lathrop; 1873, H. L. Martin; 
1876,:A: Gurneys/1877, TePiMarsh:? 1879). 1e0 W-ab nels 

Futton Sr.—1874, R. 8. Cantine; 1876, 8. M. Davis; 1877 
W.H. Holmes; 1879, Geo. Chase. 

Park Avr.—1865, supplied; 1866, A. P. Mead; 1867, J. H. 
Bayless; 1869, ne W. Thomas; 1872, W. H. Daniels: 1874, N. 
H. ‘Axtell: 1876, 8 3. McChesney; : 1879, T. Strobridge. 

Wrsiry eres ate ate Pracr.—1866, H. Whipple; 1867, 
M. H. Plumb; Grant Place: 1868, E..M. Boring; 1869, C. G. 
Truesdell; 1871, Ki. M. Boring; 1872, 8. C. Clendening; 1875, T. 
ess Marsh; 1878, F. P. Cleveland. 

Inprawa Ave.—MromcGan Avr.—1869, Hooper Crews; 1870, 
R. D. Shepherd; 1873, J. W. Phelps; 1874, M. M. Parkhurst; 
1877, J. Williamson; 1879, G. R. Vanhorne. 

Sr. Jouns.—Oaxianp.—Lanoiry Ave.—1869, C. E. Mande- 
ville; 1871, C. G. Truesdell; 1872, J. F. Yates; 1873, L. Mere- 
dith: TST DS AY 2s. Willing; 1877, T. C. Clendenning; 1880, R. 
M. Hatfield. 

Western Ave.—1871, A. Youker; 1874, R. D. Shepherd; 
1877, S. H. Adams; 1878, J. M. Caldwell. 

State Sr.—187 2, J. G. Campbell; 1873, M. C.. Stokes; 1875 
W. A. Spencer; 1876, Ezra M. Boring: 1880, W. Thatcher. 

Haxsrep Sr.—1872, S. Washburn; 1874, H. Fa eis 7653 WwW: 
Craven; 1879, F. A. Harding. 

Crrcaco hes Mission, Ma ff Sius Bolles; 1856, 1857, 1858 
and 1859, supplies; 1860, W. F. Stewart; 1861, supplied; 1862, 
J. W. Chadwick; 1863, H. Whipple; 1866, supplied; 1867 and 
1868, 8. G. Lathrop; 1869, &e., supplies. 


Early Chicago Methodism. 651 


_ Winter Sr.—1877, Geo. Chase; 1879, Wm. Craven. 
 Exotanurt.—1879, J. W. Richards.—Linootn Sr.—J ackson 
St.—Aspury Cuapet.—Norruwest Cuurcu.—MILwavukeEeE Aver. 
—Inprana Sr. are flourishing missions. 


GERMAN M. E. CHURCH. 


Sourn Cutcaco GerRMAN—VAN Buren St.—1852, A. Kellner; 
1855, F. Schuler; 1856, H. F. Koeneke; 1857, C. Holl; 1859, L. 
Lass; 1861, F. Kopp; 1863, L Lines; 1865, Chr. Loeber; 1867, E. 
Wunderleck; 1870, R. Fickencher; 1872, Chr. Loeber; 1875, 
supplied. 1877, C. I’. Allert. 

Sourn Wesr German Misston.—1872, P. Hinner; 1874, J. 
Blatch. 

Dayton Sr.—-1875, J. Berger. 

Nort Stor German—Inprana Srreet.—Criysourne AVENUE. 
1852; Philip Barth; 1853, C. ‘Wenz; 1854, L. Lass; 1855, 
J. H. Westerfeld; 1856, F. Kopp;—Clybourne Avenue.—1857, 
J. Schafer; 1859; J. Haas, Jr.; 1860, F. Kluckholm; 1862, Wm. 
Plafile; 1865, J. Blatch; 1868, G. L. Mulfinger; 1870, F. 
Rinder; 18738, supplied; 1874, J. W. Roecher. 1877, J. Schnell; 
1879, G. H. Simons. 

GrerMAN City Misston—Buppan Sr.—1870, G. H. Simons; 
Portland Street.—1872, W. Keller; 1875, B. Lampert. 

West German—Maxwe tt Strrerer.—1855, Henry Senn; 1856, 
Kt. Fickencher; 1858, W. Winter; 1860, I. Lines; 1861, L. Lass; 
1863, P. Hinners; 1866, F. Fischer; 1868, R. Fickencher; 1870,C.G. 
Becker; 1872, J. W. Roecher; 1874, G. L. Mulfinger; 1876, C.A. 
Loeber; 1879, F. Gottschalk. 

Revsen Str.—Asuiranp Avz.—1868, J. Blatch; 1869, P. Hin- 
ners; 1871, supplied; 1872, G. L. Mulfinger; 1874, I’. Rinder; 1877, 
H. Wegener; 1879, J. Bletch; 1880, J. J. Keller. 

EmMANUEL Cuurcu.—1879, G. H. Simons; 1879, J. Schnell. 

Zion Misston.—1877, H. Lemke; 1878, Wm. Karnopp; 1879, 
F, Meyer. 


SWEDISH M. E. CHURCHES. 


Swepe Misston (afterwards May St.).—North Side.—1853, S. 
B. Newman; 1855, Erick Shogren and N. Peterson; 1859, J. 
Bredburg; 1860, J. Bredburg and Eric Carlson; 1861, A. J. 
Anderson and Eric Carlson; 1864, supplied; 1865, N. O. Wes- 
tergren and V. Witting; 1868, Nels Peterson; 1870, A. J. 
Anderson; 1873, E. Shogren and Alfred Anderson; 1875,— May 
Street.—N. O. Westergren and E. Shogren; 1877, D. 8. Sorlin; 
1878, J. Wigren. 

Market Sr.—1877, A. J. Andersen; 1879, D. S. Sorlin.—Souru 
Craper.—Haven Sr.—F. Ahgren; 1878, N. O. Westergren. 


652 arly Chicago Methodism. 
NORWEGIAN M. E. CHURCHES. 


Inprana St.—First Cuurcu.—1877, A. Haagensen; 1878, J. 
H. Johnson. 

Diviston Sr.—Sxeconp Cuurcu.—1877, C. I. Eltzholts; 1878, 
J. De L. Thompson. 


PRESIDING ELDERS. 


A list of presiding elders of the district of which Chicago has 
been a part, is subjoined. Some of the names do not appear on 
other lists: 

Intrnors ConrerENnce.—In 1831 and 1832—Sangamon district: 
Peter Cartwright, Presiding Elder; in 18383, Simon Peter, P. E. 
vi 1834 and “1835—Chicago District: John Sinclair, P. E.; in 

35, W. B. Mack, P. E.; 1836 to 1839, John Clark, P. E. 

mak 1840 Rook River Conrermnon was set off from the Illinois. 
John T. Mitchell was P. E. cf Chicago district, 1840 to 1841; 
ILooper Crews, 1842 and 1848; James ft. Goodrich, 1844; James 
Mitchell, 1845, 1846; John Chandler, 1847; Hooper Crews, 
1848; A. L. Risley, 1849, 1850; John Sinclair, 1851, 18525850. 
1854: J. W. Agard, 1855, 1856, LSE Guo ae Take: Hitchcock, 
1859; iE. M. Boring, 1860, 1861, 1862; Stephen P. Keyes, 1863, 
1864; Hooper Crews, 1865, 1866, 1867, 1868; Wm. C. Dandy, 
T8609 1810.18 (17 1872: Andrew J. Jutkins, 1873, 1874, 1875, 
1876; William C. Willing, LETT WS 08, 1879, 1880. 

The following figures, expressing the status in the autumn of 
1879, relate to Churches in the city limits. 


ENGLISH CHURCHES. 


Value of Teachers and 


Members and] church pro- | Scholars in 


Names of Churches. 


Probationers. perty. Sunday School. 

Clavic Strenko: da oe wrk eke ieine mcawe $123 000 127 
WabashiAwenneus /4n5 eee eles oe 208 65 000 330 
Prinity tienes lean bate ee ea Gent weet 450 150 000 493 
Michigans vene, sso. cins% sees ceo s' 425 62 000 721 
Langley Avene, .\i+> sae oes sve bine 238 20 000 625 
State’ Street: .s oe pele Mien ee eie ee eh 100 3 500 175 
(Tracer ee met, Cesc ohne ete eee 325 85 000 807 
Grant PINGes, coke ike sea ewes wee 3 9 000 
ee RA ACC rie mers eee ts) 825 97 000 806 

ATLa SEP COLE ca seein totes oe orale eke 29 60 000 508 
Park vA Vanuesers cies hele oe ore ee aye) 293 
Western WA yeniue;s.s oy pene otters 305 10 000 385 
Bulton Strectinn 440m bee ok Bele as 195 4 400 381 
Dixon Street, isi t cue as bie a aie tee ates 83 2 500 174 
Dts Paul's ars cee wie doy Meee ee ees 302 6 COO 303 
Halsted Strettediws. tf 40 eee Sets | 150 50 C00 847 
SINIHRON; is Delvnine AE Ree seen Seen 162 1 509 190 
Emmaniels: .sann ot eee 4 aba eee ariel 110 147 
JackSOn Sureeti. ty hte aie eet 4\) 3 200 133 
Winter Street). sess 00.4 Abele tee 10 000 180 


3 


Early Chicago Methodism. 85 


GERMAN CHURCHES. 


Clybourne Avenue)... <sé.<e cs ees ys 176 $15 000 200 
Maxwell meteate ts cacy) oge ioe cae aets 257 10 500 349 
RONIBNGMAVERUD, clce wie keke ecce ares 200 15 500 240 
Portland Avene, a6 ue lec eee hole 132 5 000 171 
MmimanueleChnrchy yd. ces ses en eis 112 6 000 135 
PAOTEU NIGSION Ce cs eo sd Ree eee Cates 30 1 000 80 


SWEDISH CHURCHES.’ 


Markebsotnectraonseds petide cemctien 320 $24 000 290 

DIRY roel pret cravas val ¢ od eg oo falc ee 290 14 000 200 

Tevet Pree tires as eclectic esleesiavas : 125 1 000 60 
NORWEGIAN CHURCHES. 

Wires Gourelc gcse cic esc ccdae hee | 312 | $18 000 | 342 

SSHOOTIOIE ECE Ge lite ce occ Sale ade e's ; 65 2 500 80 


— 


The Methodist Church has two important educational institu- 
tions at Evanston, Illinois. The Northwestern University was 
organized by charter in 1851. In 1853, Rev. Dr. C. T. Hinman 
was elected President, and a faculty was formed. Dr. Hinman 
died in 1854, and Rev. Dr. R. 8S. Foster (now Bishop) was elected 
President in 1854. He resigned in 1860, and Rev. H. 8. Noyes 
acted as President until his death in 1869. In that year Rev. 
Dr. E. O. Haven became President, and when he resigned in 
1872, Rev. Dr. C. H. Fowler was elected. Dr. Fowler was 
elected editor of the N. Y. Advocate in 1876, and Oliver Marcy, 
L. L. D., has since acted as President. The University has a 
foundation in real estate. The present site of Evanston em- 
braces abont four hundred acres of land, a part of which has 
been sold tu residents. This purchase money and rents consti- 
tute the income of the University. The entire valuation is about 
one million dollars, and the future of the schoolsis assured. The 
University has six departments: 1, Literature and Science; 2, 
College of Literature and Arts (Woman’s College); 3, College 
of Music; 4, College of Law (in Chicago); 5, College of 
Medicine (Chicago Medical College); 6, Preparatory School. 
The library has over 30,000 volumes. The six faculties includes 
about fifty professors The students number about 800 in all 
departments. The wisdom of the organization of the University 
is justly attributable to Hon. John Evans, Hon. Grant. Good- 
rich, Orrington Lunt, Jabez K. Botsford and Rev. R. Haney. 
Rev. Philo Judson was long a wise agent and counsellor for the 
trustees. The institution holds a very high rank. 

The church has another important institution in Evanston, I1., 
for the education of young men for the Methodist ministry. 
Mrs. Eliza Garrett, wife of Augustus Garrett who was once 


G54. Early Chicago Methodism. 


Mayor of Chicago, died in 1855, leaving about a quarter of a 
million dollars to found the Garrett Biblical Institute. The will 
was drawn by Hon. Grant Goodrich, and the institute was open- 
ed in 1856. Rev. Dr. John Dempster was the first President. 
Rev. Dr. D. P. Kidder, Rev. Dr. Henry Banmister, Rev. F. 
Johnstone, Rev. Dr. F. D. Hemenway, Rev. Miner Raymond, 
and Rev. Dr. W. X. Ninde (the present president), constitute 
the list of instructors. Mr. Johnstone served for a short time, 
and Dr. Kidder went to a similar institution in the East in 1871. 
The three years’ course is exclusively biblical and theological. 
About two hundred and forty graduates and twelve hundred 
students have received instruction from the able faculty. Many 
graduates and students have gone abroad to mission service. 
Many conferences in the church, particularly in the northwest, 
lave in their ranks earnest men who were educated in this Bib- 
lical Institute. Hon. Grant Goodrich, whose service in the parent 
Methodist Church in Chicago (Clark St. Church), and in the 
Northwestern University, has been noted, and Hon. Orrington 
Lunt, have given much of their lives and substance to the Insti- 
tute. These their good works will follow them. The Universi- 
ty and Institute both have good buildings. 

The sources of these data are historical lectures by Hon. 
Grant Goodrich, 1852; General Minutes of the Church; Stevens’ 
History; John Stewart’s “ Highways and Hedges”; *« Metho. 
dism in Northwest,” by Rev. 8. R. Beggs; Peter Cartwright’s 
Autobiography; Simpson’ s Cyclopedia. ‘of Methodism, and eur- 

rent papers. 


CENSUS OF CHICAGO FOR 1880, OBTAINED FROM THE RECORDS IN 
WASHINGTON IN ADVANCE OF THEIR PUBLICATION, 


The population of Chicago now appears to be 503,301 of whom 
257,027 are males, 246,2 74 females; 298,426 nativ oS 204,875 
foreign: 496,617 white: 6,475 co lored, 169 Chinese, 2 Japanese, 
87 Indians and 1 East Indian. This statement is still subject to 
possible corrections, by reason of the discovery of omissions or 
duplications of names in the lists of inhabitants returned, 

Very respecttully, 
Francis 8S. WALKER, 
Superintendent. 


Lhe Anti-Slavery Agitation in Illinois, . 65! 


Ot 


HISTORY OF THE ANTI-SLAVERY AGITATION, AND THE GROWT H 
OF THE LIBERTY AND REPUBLICAN PARTIES 
IN THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, 


BY HON. Z. EASTMAN. 


Thave been requested to write for this work some passages of his- 
tory bearing upon the late agitation of the anti-slavery question 
in the West, and its effects” upon the fate of the nation. It is 
almost superfluous to state that it is a favorite doctrine of our peo- 
ple, that ours is agovernment of liberty; that liberty is the great 
boast of the nation, and the object and end of the struggles of 
our forefathers in making this country an asylum of the oppressed 
of all lands, and achieving finally national independence. Con- 
sequently, when the form of government first began to take shape, 
it was upon this declaration, which it was assumed was a self. 
evident truth, “that all men were then equal, and are endowed 
by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among which are 
Lite, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” ‘The patriots of 
the revolution, who achieved their independence, were doubtless 
sincere believers in this truth. They had no mental reservations, 
that is, the most of them; and believed that the doctrine applied 
to black men and slaves, as well as to white men. They did not 
say, and they did not mean, that white men, when they combined 
to make a new government, were then equal, etc., as a distin- 
guished Senator ‘from Illinois once stated they meant to say. 

It was very consistent with this doctrine, of the fathers of the 
Revolution that when the nation had received the bequest of a large 
area of territory which was by nature free from slavery, that they 
should have taken special pains to guarantee that state of free- 
dom for all future time. Negro slaver y, they said, had been 
forced upon the colonies by the policy of the mother country ; 
and as it was found existing in all the original territories, they 
could see no other way but to leave it to time and Providence for 
its extirpation. But wherever the nation began new it would 
keep itself clear of this admitted curse. The nation had no ter- 
ritory of its own. It was all made up of the areas of the prov- 
inces or colonies that had entered into the Confederation which 
was formed to secure national independence. When it became a 
nation in fact, after the adoption of the Federal Constitution in 
1788, and the old Confederacy had been superseded, it was ina 
condition to inherit an estate. Consequently the States which 
held territory outside of their administrative limits, prospectively 


656 The Anti-8 lavery Agitation in Illinois. 


or directly, were preparing to cede that territory to the nation as 
a body capable of inheriting and holding such.an estate. And 
theretore Connecticut and Virginia set the example and relin- 
quished their jurisdiction over the vast regions of wild and un- 
cultivated Jands in the Northwest, which they held by virtue of 
their colonial charters; Virginia ceded the larger part in a state 
of nature. Land unoccupied by civilized man, though full of the 
wealth of the forest and the mine, is as valueless as the waves on 
the ocean. So the Virginia territory of the Northwest was 
money-valueless to the State if it remained without popula- 
tion. Without impoverishing herself she gave to the nation the 
vast territory, and in so doing she gave it an empire. but she 
coupled with the gift the condition that it should be kept free for- 
ever from that curse of slavery that was already then beginning 
to prey upon her own vitals. Thus originated the Ordinance for 
the government of the Northwest territory, which was passed by 
Congress in 1787, as the condition of receiving the donation of 
the territory from Virginia. Art. 6 of the said ordinance pro- 
vides: ‘There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude 
in the said territory otherwise than in the punishment of crimes, 
whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.” 

On the passage of this clause of the Ordinance, finally rested 
the fate of the nation. It was originally insisted upon (it is said), 
as a political and economica] measure; that to give to the land 
a marketable value, for the settlement of free and independent 
laborers and owners of the soil, it should be kept free from 
slavery. Whatever the motive, it has proved to have been in the 
largest degree, profitable and wise, and a controlling policy in 
the fate of the nation. It was in this sphere, and in the area 
of the Northwest territory, that the problem was solved that 
finally delivered the nation from the incubus of slavery. The 
consecration of the Northwest to freedom by the State of Vir- 
ginia, became the nucleus of the power that delivered the na- 
tion. The story of this achievement, to a large extent yet 
unwritten, except in the acts of men, is to form the chapter of 
history we are about to write. 

The Northwestern Ordinance, so called, was the ratification 
of the deed of cession for the territory locally defined as “lying 
within the United States, northwest of the Ohio River,” and it 
declares that there should be formed in the said territory, not less 
than three and not more than five states. And in the territory 
was organized, as population rapidly increased, the five states of 
Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin. It then em- 
braced all the territory within the boundaries of the United 
States lying outside of special jurisdiction, for the Southern At- 


| 


The Anti-Slavery Agitation in Lllinois. 657 


ee 
lantic States claimed that their boundaries extended to the French 
and Spanish possessions at the Westand South. In this “earlier 
and better day,” we see that the policy was to make all national 
territory free, and not divide it as the Missouri Compromise in- 
dicated, into half free and half slave ; or make it all slave, as the 
Repealers of the Compromise evidently intended. 

Besides the exclusion of slavery from the territory, we may 
judge the tone of the times and the character of the instrument 
from such clauses as these: “AI fines shall be moderate; and 
no cruel or unusual punishment shall be inflicted. No man shall 
be deprived of his liberty or property, but by the judgment of 
his peers or the law of the land. Should public exigencies make 
it necessary * * * to take any person’s property, or demand 
his particular services, full compensation shall be made.” And 
better still: “Religion, morality and knowledge being necessary 
to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and 
the means of education shall forever be encouraged.” There 
ought to have been good government on suchacharter. To this 
Northwest territory, under the impulse of freedom, came rap- 
idly an energetic and intelligent population, making homes and 
civil society on the fertile lands, which probably surpassed any 
other equal area on the face of theearth. It became the empire: 
to which the moral and political power of the nation concen- 
trated. 

But there was a strong impulse to emigrate from the slave 
States to this region, as well as from the Northern States, which 
were fast throwing off the remnants of the slave system that had 
clung to them. Many of the people of the South came to the 
Northwest to get rid of slavery, but they often retained the 
prejudices in which they had been educated. There was, how- 
ever, a strong feeling among the early settlers that the slavery 
prohibition was acting detrimentally to the growth and develop- 
ment of the country of the Northwest, a section to which all 
eyes were turned, as since they have been turned to the lands be- 
yond the Mississippi and the Pacific Coast. There was not al- 
ways absolute faith in free labor in conflict with slave labor. 

There were many dissatisfied persons, who held public meet- 
ings, and memorialized Congress to obtain a removal of the re- 
striction for a limited time, that Southern planters might be 
induced to move into the territory with their slaves. A sort of 
quasv slavery was introduced in the name of apprentices, which 
gave a slave code to Illinois, in spite of the slavery prohibition 
clause. So good a man as Wm. Henry Harrison was made presi- 
dent of a convention at Vincennes, Territory of Indiana, in 1804, 
the object of which was to promote territorial interests by ob- 


42 


658 The Anti-Slavery Agitation in Lllinois. 


taining a modification of this organic law. We see now what 
was oained by hdlding fast to the Tight thing, against the popular 
drift and a short- sighted policy. The slavery prohibition clause 
was the vital element in the prosperity of the Northwest, when 
the tide of population finally had set in this direction. 

But there were many who had been trained in the notion that 
slavery was the only element of prosperity at the South, who 
were constantly harping on that one string—“ Let slavery be in- 
troduced into the Northwest.” At so late a time as 1839, 1840, 
after the murder of Lovesoy, and when the State was loaded down 
by weight of debt and depression of business, there were men of 
influence who declared there was no other way for the State to 
be delivered from its ‘“ Slough of Despond,” but to call a State 
convention and alter the Constitution, so that slavery might be 
legally introduced. It was the thought of some that there could 
be no prosperity unless some one did the work of another for 
nothing. In much earlier times there were prominent men in 
this State who persistently held to such views, and they were ear- 
ried into political action to that extent that the supporters of this 
policy were defined as the “slave party.” 

The Territorial Legislature of Mlinois seemed to favor the meas- 
sure, but it produced a partial re-action, so that an anti-slavery 
delegate, Jonathan Jennings, was elected to Congress, who re- 
tained his place until Illinois was admitted as one of the States 
of the Union, in 1818. In 1824 the question of the admission of 
slavery came up so prominently in what was called the Convention 
issue, which was to call a Convention to alter the Constitution to 
admit slavery, that it became a marked chapter in the history of 
Illinois. Gov. Coles was distinguished as an anti-slavery man on 
this question. He had moved into the State from Virginia, and had 
emancipated his slaves, and settled them on land near Edwards- 
ville. It required a vote of two-thirds of the legislature to call 
«convention for the people to vote to alter the Constitution. 
And so strong was the slavery party in the State that they lacked 
only one vote of getting the constitutional two-thirds in favor of 
the measure at firs Bb, and by a legislative trick this one was at last 
gained, and a vote of the people for the convention was author- 
ized; but in Angust, 1824, it was voted down by the people by a 
major ity of 1 800 i in a vote of 12,000. 


On such a slender thread as this did the fate of the State and 
the nation hang, as the truth of history shows. 

There was in 1824, in consequence of these schemes for slave- 
ry, a strong contesting anti-slavery party in Illinois. This was 
atter the passage of the Missouri Compromise, in 1820, and when 
there had come a relapse in the anti-slavery feeling every where 


The Anti-Slavery Agitation in Lllinois. 659 


else in the country. Brnsamrn Lunpy was at that time printing 
in Tennessee, the first anti-slavery newspaper ever issued. 
The slavery question was then generally admitted to be a mat- 
ter to be determined by the people of the Slave States for them- 
selves. From Lundy’s efforts came the agitation of modern 
abolitionism. It took on anew and more energetic phase, when 
Garrison, a disciple of Lundy’s, started his “ Liberator” at Bos- 
ton, in 1830. Those who took interest in the anti- slavery dis- 
cussion that grew out of the Missouri Compromise in 1820, 
looked upon this Convention question in Illinois as one of na- 
tional importanee:—should the apostacy of the Missouri ques- 
tion lead to the abrogation of the Northwestern Ordinance? 
and shall the whole territory northwest of the Ohio river be 
given up to slavery by a vote of the people, on the primative 
squatter sovereignty assumption, in spite of the Missouri Com- 
promise? 

It was during the time that these apostate settlers were pro- 
posing to repeal this restriction-clause in the ordinance, and after 
the slavery question was being agitated in [linois, that Thomas 
Jefferson wrote his famous letter, in 1814, to Gov. Edward Cole, on 
the condition of the slave, and the hopes of his emancipation. He 
says: ‘The love of justice, and the love of country, plead equally 
the cause of these people; and it is a moral reproach to us that 
they should have plead so longin vain. * * * From those 
of the former generation who were in the fullness of age when I 
came into public life, which was while our controversy with Eng- 
land was on paper only, I soon saw that nothing was to be hoped. 

* * * Thad always hoped that the younger generation, recelv- 
ing their early impressions after the flame of liberty had been 
kindled in every breast, and had become, as it were, the vital 
spark of every American, in the generous temperament of youth, 
analogous to the motion of their blood, and above the suggestions 
of avarice—would have sympathized with oppression wherever 
found, and proved their love of liberty beyond their own share of 
ee Yet the hour of emancipation is advancing in the 
march of time.” 

Hardly thirteen years had passed away Before this anti-slavery 
party of Illinois seemed to have perished, or the men leading in 
it taking opposite sides, when the question came up on new is- 
sues. Hooprr Warren, who had been the single newspaper 
editor who opposed the convention, was almost the only man 
alive of the old associates, who ranked himself with the modern 
abolitionists. Rev. Jon M. Prcx, who had been an active op- 
ponent of the introduction of slavery into Illinois, was active in 
opposition to modern abolitionism, and was regarded as pro- 


660 The Anti-Slavery Agitation in Lllinois. 
slavery, and was engaged as editor of the South Western Baptist 
Banner—a newspaper that was completely acceptable to a de- 
nomination that owned one of their preachers as a slave, and to 
a church where one of the female members sold a brother-bap-. 
tist, and contributed the avails of the sale of the brother’s flesh 
and blood to buy the plate for the communion service. But 
still the truth seemed to be left in the land, like the leaven, to 
bring the dead mass to life again ; and emancipation went 
marching on with time, though it left its followers behind. 

About. ten years atter this convention project was settled, 
Rev. E. P. Lovesoy was found in St. Louis, editing a religions 
newspaper, in which, under the privileges of the tree press, he 
claimed the right to discuss the subject of slavery as a moral 
question. That right was denied him, and he was: driven out of 
St. Louis, and he sought a city of refuge in Illinois, at Alton. 
Here he claimed only the same right, not to be an abolitionist, 
but the freedom of the press to discuss slavery as freely as any 
moral question. And that right was again denied him in Alton 
hy the voice of the populace, “but not by the law. One press 
atter another was destroyed, and he still persisting in standing 
by his rights. In the month of November, 1837, he was killed 
by the mob; and in thirteen years after the State had deliberate- 
ly decided to stand for the liberty that was guaranteed her in 
the ordinance for her government, she gained the unenviable 
title of being the Martyr State. by suffering one of the truest 
men that ever lived, to die for the very cause that she had made 
alive. And there were very few people, indeed, in the State to 

raise any voice of condemnation against this outrage. And like 

the martyr, Stephen, devout men carried Lovesoy to his burial, 
though not so many in number as made lamentation over Ste- 
phen, for only a brother minister made a prayer over his grave, at 
which only were present, for fear of the mob, but one or two 
faithful friends and relatives. A cluster of- brother ministers of 
the New School Presbyterians and Congregationalists, and pious 
members of these churches, stood by him in his conflicts for the 
freedom of the press, and ‘lamented him when dead, and had 
their zeal for the same cause inspired by his example. Every 
important town in the State seemed emulous of the fate of Al- 
ton. It was the exultant boast of the people of Illinois, in 1837, 
that no abolition newspaper could be permitted on her soil. 
Abolitionism, a “ word covered o’er with shame,” always meant, 
and only meant, the freedom of the slave—that emancipation, 
which Jefferson so hopefully saw advancing in the march of 
time. 

Soon after the murder of Lovejoy, there was a meeting called in 


>) 


The Anti-Slavery Agitation in Ltlinois. 661 


Chicago—not to sympathize with the cause of abolitionism, but to 
condemn this assault on the constitutional right of the freedom 
of the press. It was called to be held in the Saloon Building, a 
small public hall on the corner of Clark and Lake streets, on the 
third floor, and the meeting was held not without fears that it 
would be broken up by a mob. There was an abundance of cau- 
tion used in the calling and holding of the meeting, to avoid any 
collision “ with the fellows of the baser sort.” Rev. F. Bascom, 
of the First Presbyterian Church, Dr. C. V. Dyer, Philo Car- 
penter, Robert Freeman, Calvin De Wolf, and some few members 
of the Baptist and Methodist churches, were the leading spirits 
of this meeting. A watch was set to give seasonable warning 
of any approach of a mob, should any one be sent howling upon 
the track of these devout men, mourning for Lovejoy, and en- 
deavoring to give voice to a right minded public opinion. But 
there was happily no demonstration of mob violence, and the 
meeting was not a large one, but probably fully represented the 
interest which Chicago then took in the fate of Lovejoy; the city was 
at least saved from the disgrace of a mob. It was not then pre- 
sumed that an abolition press would have fared any better in 
Chicago than it had at Alton. The public were not prepared to 
tolerate any such newspapers. 

This was the first anti-slavery meeting, if it may be called 
such, held in Chicago, of which there is any recollection. The 
men who were present became prominent afterward in the anti- 
slavery history of Chicago. The men who were willing to be 
known as abolitionists, soon after this event, were mainly a 
nucleus that formed around the First Presbyterian Church, em- 
bracing a few individuals who were Methodists or Baptists; but in 
almost every instance they were professing Christians, who were 
led to take a stand by the death of Lovejoy. Here was the begin- 
ning of that anti-slavery sentiment that became a power in Chi- 
cago, and made that city distinguished throughout the country 
as one that proved itself a law-abiding community by sheltering 
and protecting the fugitive slave against illegal arrest. 

A few months after the death of Lovejoy, the people of the 
West saw this announcement in G. D. Prentice’s Lowzsville 
Journal; “ Benjamin Lundy, the Quaker and Anti-Slavery Pio- 
neer, is about to go to Illinois to succeed Lovejoy in printing an 
abolition newspaper.” Prentice had known of the career of 
Lundy, and was personally friendly. It was then said that Lun- 
dy, the non-resistant Quaker, who was known as a prudent 
though a fearless man, was the only person the merciless people 
of Illinois would let live in their midst as the publisher of a 
newspaper that opposed slavery, and it was very doubtful whether 


662 The Anti-Slavery Agitation ir Lllinois. 


even he could be allowed to find a place for the rest of the soles 
of his feet in the Prairie State. But during the year 1838, Lun- 
dy, according to promise, made his appearance in Illinois. The 
last compliment paid him before he left Philadelphia was the 
burning of all his worldly effects by the mob in Pennsylvania 
Hall. He had only a subscription book to begin his publication 
with in Illinois. The Genius of Universal “Emancipation, a 
paper which has been printed for many years, in many cities and 
States, now hailed from Hennepin, but was really printed at 
Lowell, LaSaile county. The notable thing about this paper, for 
our purpose in this connection, was that it carried upon its front- 
let this motto: “ We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all 
men are created equal,” etc. This was the motto and the plat- 
form of Lundy’s journal; the paper was for the restoration of 
the doctrines of the Declaration of Independence. 

We can better understand this line of argument in history 
by referring to the character of the anti-slavery agitation as car- 
ried on by different sects in different sections of the country. The 
anti-slavery movement was largely an emanation of the religious 
sentiment. Leading men in it were usually professing Christ- 
ians, and largely developed i in the line of personal piety and hu- 
man benevolence. ‘There were a few persons who were earnest 
wbolitionists who were avowed unbelievers, and probably from a 
logical inference growing out of the fact that the majority of 
the professing Cl iristians of the country pretended to believe 
that the bible authorized slavery, making God the author of 
that abominable system of iniquity. But slavery in all its as- 
pects was very largely a political institution. It was created by 
law; it must be abolished by law. There was no class of aboli- 
tionists that proposed the removal of slavery by the political 
power of the nation. It was universally regarded as a State in- 
stitution, and it was a perversion of the facts and a misrepre- 
sentation of the position of the agitators, the assertion that there 
was any purpose to meddle with slaver y by an undue exercise of 
legai authority. 

‘It was a movement for a moral appeal to the slaveholders to 
action of themselves, for their own salvation. . Therefore the fact 
should be remembered that many of the active abolitionists were 
among and from the slaveholders of the South ; and a sad thing 
it was for the people there that they drove such men from their 
midst. The abolition party was divided up into sects; some 
were for carrying that reform mixed up with other good meas- 
ures, such as women suffrage, land reform, and temper ance. 
Some were for making it a political question, carrying it to the 
polls, as they said; others were not for soiling the reform in the 


The Anti-Slavery Agitation in Illinois. 663 


muddy waters of politics. Garrison stands forth as a leader, but 
he was not for voting at all, and declared for “no union with 
slaveholders,” in Chur reh or State. The voting abolitionists formed 
a political party in 1840, and nominated James G. DIrney, 
formerly a slaveholder, for the Presidency. 

But this section was again divided into other sects. Some were 
only Free Soil; some merely against the extension of slavery, and 
the Gerrit Smith section was the very antipodes of the Garrisonian 
section. They believed in the unconstitutionality of slavery, and 
would have had it smitten down by a decree of the United States 
Court. Garrison’s special characteristic was his repetition of 
Elizabeth Heyrick’s English propogandism of immediate and un- 
conditional emancipation, as in opposition to gradual emancipa- 
tion, on the logical inference that slavery being a sin should be 
immediately forsaken by profession of repentance: Great stress 
is laid on Garrison’s work for originating this doctrine in this 
country, and giving it, as it was said to do, the great moral power 


<=) 
that carried it through to success in emancipation. But the vir- 


tue of this claim is much over-rated. Garrison did not originally 
préach it, nor was it finally carried to completion in the ending 
of slavery. Emancipation came through the madness of the 
slaveholders and the use of the war-power, in judgment without 
repentance. 

But there were anti-slavery people among all these sects, ex- 
cepting the non-resistants, who believed in the saving power of 
the Declaration of Independence. They believed in the neces- 
sity of continuing to administer the national government on the 
principles of the Declaration of Independence, and that failing to 
do so, all political parties had gone intoa state of apostacy. The 
reform in Illinois particularly 9 was propogated on this basis. An- 
ti-slavery men here were trained to be so, on the truths of the 
Declaration of Independence. ‘They were never divided or troub- 
led with the divisions that characterized the East; under the strin- 
gent lead of Garrison, Gerrit Smith or Greeley. They fellow- 
shipped all. these, but followed the lead of none of them. They 
were working for a genuine Liberty Party to administer the gov- 
ernment on the Constitution as it is under the Declaration of In- 
dependence as the Magna Charta. It is necessary that this ex- 
planation and distinction be understood as we proceed further in 
this hitherto unwritten history. 

Benjamin Lundy, the pioneer, as we have said, when he came 
to Illinois, set up the banner of the Declaration of Independence 
on the ground of the ordinance of ’87. He had always held up 
that banner. It was always the motto of his paper. Lovejoy’s 
Alton Observer was in no sense a political paper; it was a Pres- 


664 The Anti-Slavery Agitation in I llinois. 


byterian religions journal, claiming the right to discuss slavery 
as a moral question. The Liberty ‘Par ty of 1840 was not formed 
when Lundy came to this State; he died the year betore its or- 
ganization. But it had been proposed. Lundy favored such a 
party in politics, based upon the motto of his paper. His 
“Genius,” through many difficulties, was only irregularly pub- 
lished. He lived only to set up that banner; to become the 
nucleus of a new party, and one which at last should triumph 
in the nation. His leading idea was armed with tenfold more 
force than Garrison’s Immediatism or Gerrit Smith’s Unconsti- 
tutionality of slavery. It was for going back to fundamental 
truths, and putting all th'ngs right from the beginning. He 
died, leaving his banner flying, and his mantle to be worn by 
others. 

His newspaper was continued, with a partial change of name, 
by Hooper Warren and Z. Riverine the writer of this sketahe 
But the motto and the principles and objects continued. Mr. 
Warren was then an old man, and had been the editor of the only 
anti-slavery paper in Illinois, the “dwardsville Spectator, at 
the time of the Convention question. Mr. Eastman was a young 
man, and had never acted with any then formed political party, 
but whose youthful aspirations and hopes had been, while resid- 
ing in New England, for the formation of a political organization 
delivered from the national apostacy, which should administer 
the government on the doetrine of the Iathers—the natural 
equality of all. He had advocated such a party while associated 
with Mr. Lundy in his “ Genius.” 

In 1840 a Birney Presidential ticket was formed in Illinois, 
in the rural region of Farmington, Fulton Co., by those who had 
stood by Lovejoy at his death. It received at that election only 
144 votes, only one of which was counted in Cook County, and 
the honor of that one count lies between two votes cast in Chica- 
eo, one by the late Dr. C. V. Dyer, and the other, Calvin De- 
Wolt. The successor of Lundy’s journal, the Genius of Lrver- 
ty, did not appear till after the election of 1840; but it advocated 
the continuation of the Liberty party in opposition to a large 
portion of friends who had co-operated with the Anti-slavery 
Society. The Hlinois Anti- slavery Society had been formed at 
Alton, just before Lovejoy’s death, and was one of the steps that 
led to the hostility that was manifested against the abolitionists, 
and the organization was cemented by his blood. Annual meet- 
ings of this society continued to be held, and officers elected; 
but many persons who had supported it, were opposed to the 
formation of an anti-slavery party in polities, and they turned 
back, and walked no more with the followers of Lovejoy. 


The Anti-Slavery Agitation in Illinois. 665 


Warren and Eastman’s Genius was printed on Lundy’s 
press, in LaSalle county, till 1842, and it had succeeded in estab- 
lishing landmarks in all sections of the Northwest. The only 
other journal of the kind then printed in the West was the P/i- 
lanthropist, at Cincinnati. An informal committee of the anti- 
slavery people of Chicago, who had made up their minds that 
they should no longer vote with the old political parties, a ma- 
jority of whom were of the First Presbyterian Church, under the 
pastorate of Rev. F. Bascom, invited Mr. Eastman to remove 
with his newspaper to Chicago. Dr. Dyer was the party com- 
missioned to extend this invitation. As the result of it, the 
Western Citizen was started as the organ of the new Liberty 
party for the Northwest in 1842. That journal made the plat- 
form of that party in the introduction which appeared in its first 
number, as follows: 


‘In political affairs, our object is simply to carry out the principles of the 
Declaration of Independence. We stand on the same ground where Washington, 
Jefferson, Franklin, and other honored patriots stood before us. We wish to 
save this nation from the evils and the curse of slavery, and from the political de- 
generacy which has fallen upon us, through the influence of a departure from 
the first principles of liberty. If the objects which were sought to be obtained 
by the political reformation in the time of the Revolution, were then worthy of 
pursuit, they are equally so now ; and we shall not cease to urge the importance 
of them upon the people. 

‘‘ We are firm in the belief that it is impossible to sustain a free government 
by the administration even of good laws, without the prevalence of correct pub- 
lic opinion, grounded upon morality and a proper allegiance to the Supreme Ruler 
of the Universe. : 

‘*We shall endeavor to establish these truths, by presenting them clearly, 
forcibly and fearlessly, and in a spirit of meekness and kindness. On their ac- 
complishment, we see no reason why our government should be overturned—our 
constitution trampled under foot—or the union dissolved ; or why the church 
organizations should be destroyed, or the ministry be annihilated. We wish it 
distinctly to be understood that our course is reformatory and not destructive.” 


When Mr. Lincoln had been elected to the presidency, eighteen 
years after this declaration of principles was written, a copy was 
transmitted to him, calling his attention to them as the funda- 
mental principles of the Republican party which had triumphed 
in his election; and he responded in recognizing their applica- 
tion, and inviting a special interview with the writer in regard 
to them. | | 

In May, 1842, at the time when arrangements had been made 
for establishing the Western Citizen, the last anniversary meeting 
of the Llinois Anti-Slavery Society—consecrated by the blood 
of Lovejvy—was held in Chicago; and the first Liberty State 
Convention was held, which, as a political organization, succeed- 
ed the other asa mere moral society. This State convention laid 


666 The Anti-Slavery Agitation in Lllinois. 


down a platform of principles, and issued an address to the peo- 
ple. One resolution gives the gist of its doctrines: 


‘‘ That freedom or slavery is the great question of this age and country—one 
which must be met, discussed and settled on fair, just and consistent principles, 
before prosperity can be expected again to smile on our land.” 


We can understand now the application of these truths and 
warnings, and how much better it would have been for the na- 
tion had they been heeded. 

The convention. pnt in nomination Major C. W. Hunter, of 
Alton, for governor, and Frederick Collins, of Adams county, for 
lieutenant governor. These were the first candidates of that ini- 
tiatory party. 

The Western Citizen was put into the hands of Mr. Eastman 
as its editor and publisher. By his invitation, Ichabod Codding, 
whom he had known at the East, left Connecticut and came to 
Illinois to become the leading orator for the Liberty Party. 
Chief Justice Chase has described Mr. Codding as being the 
most eloquent speaker he ever heard from the platform. The la- 
bors of Codding, as a speaker, were very effective in building up 
the cause. Owen Lovejoy became a co-worker with this party 
at this convention, giving up, with some reluctance, the society 
formed at his brother’s martyrdom. James H. Collins, a promi- 
nent lawyer of Chicago, who had some time before been converted 
to religion and abolitionism, at that time gave in his adhesion to 
the Liberty Party then formed, as the party of his future politi- 
eal lite. L. C. P. Freer and Calvin DeWolf, Philo Carpenter, 
and most of the men since prominent in that reform, identified 
themselves with this new party. Dr. C. V. Dyer was probably 
the most active of the Chicago reinforcements. He procured 

the place of meeting, which was in Chapman’s Hall, a building oc- 

cupying the oround of the new bank building on ‘the southwest 
corner of Randolph and LaSalle streets, west of the log jail, on 
the public square. This convention was the beginning of the 
organization of abolitionism in Chicago, that became nationally 
known for its earnestness and thoroughness, and locally recoy- 
nized for its association with the Under oround Railroad, and had 
a imarked effect on the polities of the ‘State, and ultimately the 
fate of the nation. Its projectors probably builded wiser than 
they knew. 

After this convention the Liberty Party always put candidates 
in nomination for every State election; and candidates for Con- . 
gress were brought out as fast as the principles of the party 
cained ground in Congressional Districts. As the conflict for. 
its idea’ went on, the contest was intensified by the political 


The Anti-Slavery Agitation im Lllinors. 667 


issues that were coming up in the nation, growing out in part of 
the moral agitation that was going on in the land. 

Then came the annexation of Texas, for the purpose of extend- 
ing the area of slavery, followed by the Mexican War, as the re- 
sult of that national robbery; then the acquisition of a vast ex- 
tent of territory, and the contest that came of it, as to its fate in 
regard to the extension of slavery into it; the Wilmot Proviso, 
the Nebraska and the Kansas bills, squatter sovereignty, and the 
contest for freedom in Kansas, which brought old ‘John Brown 

to the front; these, all supplemented by the passage of the Iu- 
gitive Slave Law, and the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, 
bri inging down these events of this exciting agitation till 1854, 
on which period hangs a new dispensation. During this time 
the Liberty Party was looming up in power and in importance. 
It was the only party that was capable of grappling with the 
events that were pregnant with the fate of the nation. 

_It was a period of political and moral commotion unparalleled 
in the history of any nation. It was the period of intense agita- 
tion of the slavery question in every respect. The Democratic 
party had said in its platform that it would resist this agitation, 
and then went on and furnished fuel for the agitation. The 
Whig party, in its platform, said they would discountenance this 
agitation, and then gave countenance to the agitation that was 
aimed against the principles of this little Liber ty party. And in 
Ilinois this little party became the most thoroughly organized 
and concentrated political combination ever before known in this 
State, and probably not since equaled in intensity and efficiency. 
In 1852 it numbered ten thousand votes and held the balance of 
power in a majority of the Congressional districts. The voters 
were all readers of their organ, the Western Citizen, which 
through all the changes and modifications of Free Soilism, con- 
science- Whiggery and Independent Democracy, and American- 
isin, remained true to its one idea, the Liberty Party to preserve 
the. government as the succession of the party of 1776, that had 
formed the nation. 

This national agitation brought two important men of Illinois 
to the front as national men, namely, Stephen A. Douglas and 
Abraham Lincoln. They were leading men, representing oppo- 
site principles and antagonistic elements in the fate of the nation. 
Into the area of the consecrated freedom of the Northwestern 
Ordinance came the conflict of the ideas which should rule the 
fate of the nation, and these men in the order of events seemed 
to be the representatives of the struggle of these ideas for the as- 
cendency. But the Liberty Party was the only organization that 
was prepared to meet the emergency. 


668 The Anti-Slavery Agitation in Illinois. 


Previous to 1852, the State of Illinois was regarded as one of 
the most solidly democratie states in the Union. The people were 
only allowed to send to Congress one opposition member, called 
whig, at each congressional election. And this opposition infln- 
ence came from the conservative, Henry Clay-school of politics, 
that had overflowed from Kentucky into the interior of [linois, 
overlapping the area of Egypt, which was always darkly demo- 
eratic. This conservative whig influence sent a Lincoln, a Baker 
and aYates to Congress at different elections, as the single opposi- 
tion representative. And Stephen A. Douglas, a native of Ver- 
mont, seemed to have made himself the demi-god of the State, as 
fully as John C. Calhoun was of South Carolina. The State was 
of course, earnestly in support of all the measures of the Democratic 
party, and these measures were being artfully inanipulated to 
bring Douglas prominently befvre the public as a national man, 
with an impetus in the direction of the Presidency. 

Mr. Lincoln, as an attorney and an honest man, and of genu- 
ine, progressive conservatism in politics, had grown into ‘great 
esteem with the people of all parties. He had won in Congr ess 
some reputation to his damage, as a politician, by his opposition 
to the Mexican war. Douglas was the leader of the debate 
through the Senate, of the principles on the platform in the State. 
Douglas was mainly responsible for the squatter sovereignty 
theory of governing the territories, as well as for the repeal of 
the Missouri Compromise, and was one who was known as an ad- 
vocate of the Fugitive Slave Law. These measures put the whole 
country in a state of ferment. Mr. Dougias took the stump in 
their favor, while Mr. Lincoln was known to be opposed to them. 
In 1852, the Fugitive Slave Law abomination had been passed; the 
repeal of the Missouri Compromise was a measure pending. The 
Liberty party maintained an unbroken front in its organization. 
The democratic party was feeling the disrupting influences of its 
iniquities from free-soilism, yet “apparently growing stronger in 
its sin, by the concentration of all the rowdy forces of the nation 
in its favor, and the prospective coming of the solid South on the 
slavery question. The whig party was sensibly weakening from 
the protest of the conscientious whigs, and the higher moral plane 
on which the party stood. There were signs ot disruption and 
the formation of a new party, on the distinct issues which the 
democrats had made for their party lines. 

Thinking men of the Liberty Party realized that they were in 
possession of a balance of power, as between these two weaken- 

ing forces, which might be used effectually for the advancement 
of their principles ‘and objects. The State was despotically 
democratic under the lead of Douglas, who had even then an 


™~ 
The Anti-Slavery Agitation in 1 lLintois. e 669 


eye on the Presidency. The party had every member of Con- 
gress, excepting Richard Yates, who had been elected by a small 
majority. The Liberty Party now knew by the,numbering of 
their votes that they had it in their power to turn the scale in 
favor of the weakening Whig party, or let the power remain 
with the Democrats. In the election of 1852, they stood by 
their colors on the presidential vote, and gave to John P. Hale 
nearly 10,000 votes. But enough of them, under the advice of 
their leaders, and the indirect influence of the Western Citizen, 
so diverted their votes to Congressmen, who they knew were 
pledged to their principles and against Douglas’ pet doctrines, 
that they secured the election of several Whigs to Congress, and 
independent democrats, so that the State was at once taken out 
of the hands of the democrats, and that arrogant power in Illi- 
nois was broken forever. It was at this election and by this 
policy that Hon. E. B. Washburne was first elected to Congress. 
Who now can measure the consequences that grew out of that 
choice? 

Mr. Lincoln was made the candidate of the Whig party in 
the winter of 1854 against the re-election of Gen. Shields to the 
Senate. The Liberty party vote had contributed to the election 
of a so-called Whig delegation in Congress. A large number 
of Free Soilers and Independent Democrats had contributed to 
the same result. In the State legislature the Free Soilers and 
Liberty party held the balance of power. It was thought that it 
was asking a little too much that they should be required also to 
‘magnify the old Whig party, by giving their power to the Sen- 
ate also, as they would have done had Mr. Lincoln been elected 
by their votes, and it would have been accounted a Whig party 
triumph instead of atriumph of the people, and the Liberty 
party would have been held responsible for selling out to the 
Whigs. They had to study the art of using their power and 
keeping it. For this reason Mr. Lincoln did not receive the sup- 
port of this class of representatives, as Mr. Washburne and Mr. 
Norton had received that class of votes; but the Independent 
and Liberty vote was given to Lyman Trumbull, and he was 
elected Senator, and Mr. Lincoln reserved for a higher position. 
It was a most fortunate thing, indicating wise political manage- 
ment, that Mr. Lincoln was not elected Senator at that election. 
The Republican party was informally organized in 1854, con- 
summated in the nomination of Fremont in 1856. The Liberty 
party holding to its principles, was only merged into the Repub- 
lican after this date. 

The repeal of the Missouri Compromise soon followed this 
election, and Mr. Douglas seemed to vainly hope to recover his 


67 The Anti-Slavery Agitation in Illinois. 


lost popularity at home, by tle success of this measure, and the 
‘double-sided view that seemed to some extent, to be taken of it 
at the North and South—at the South as a measure for the exten- 
sion of slavery beyond its original boundary line; at the North 
as favoring the extension of liberty beyond the line of its former 
restriction, Mr. Douglas’ artful insinuation of the act was that 
if it was originally wrong to pass that compromise, it was now a 
long- deferred right to repeal it. But the moral sense of the 
nation interpreted it otherwise. It was looked upon along with 
the Dred Scott decision, as treading down the last barrier 
against the supremacy of the slavery power. This repeal put the 
antagonistic forces more directly in battle array. 

Mr. Douglas’ term in the Senate was to expire next, and the 
re-election, or the election of another one in his place, would 
ocenr in the session of the legislature in the winter of 1858-9. 
Mr. Lincoln was opportunely i in reserve to be put into the field 
in this contest. Mr. Douglas was looking to the endorsement 
of his own State after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law, and 
the repeal of the Missouri Compromise in “his own re-election, 
and as a stepping-stone for the higher position of a nomination 
to the presidency, by the democratic party. 

The old Whigs had unlimited confidence in Mr. Lincoln; he 
was the most popular man in the party. But there was some 
earnest inquiry by those who had previously opposed his election 
as Senator, as to his fitness to represent them in the hoped-for 
re-organization of party on the question of the Liberty Party 
resolution of 1842, “ Freedom or Slaver y.” Would Mr. Lincoln 
be such a partisan that he would elect to live or die as a Whig, 
and die with his party? or was he prepared to live if his party 
should die? Affairs had got to that state that it seemed as if 
the good old Whig party, which had been much idolized, must be 
the first to die for the people. 

The editor of the Western: Citizen, about this time, visited 
Springfield in company with Cassius M. Clay. He took the 
oceasion to call upon Mr. Lincoln, but had no conversation on 
politicalsubjects. He remembered that a client of Mr. Lincoln’s, 
who was the agent of the Underground Railway at Springfield, 
and who had employ ed Mr. Lincoln as his attorney in all times 
trouble, and who greatly esteemed him—had paid for a copy of his 
paper from year to year, Which he had had addressed to A. Lin- 
coln. Je remembered thatat the mast-head of this paper, this 
motto had been ever carried as Lundy had carried it—“* We 
hold these truths to be self-evident,” ete.; and he had 
some desire to know how this doctrine fitted on the great lawyer 
who was the defender of the agent of the Underground Railroad 


The Anti-Slavery Agitation in Lllinois. 671 


against legal prosecution. This agent said Mr. Lincoln was 
all right on the negro question ; he gave money when necessary, 
to help the fugitives on the way to freedom. There was some 
desire to know if he would stand right on the National questions 
if he were elected to the Senate, as there was then a prospect of 
his being a competitor of Judge Douglas. An interview was 
had with Mr. Herndon, his law-partner. Mr. Herndonsaid Mr. 
Lincoln was all right. ‘ He has been an attentive reader of your 
paper for several years ; he believes in the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, and he is a great reader of the abolition papers. He is 
well posted. That he might get all sides of that question, I take 
Garrison’s Lzberator, and he takes the National Fra and the West- 
ern Citizen. Although he does not say much, you may depend 
upon it, Mr. Lincoln is all right; when it becomes necessary, he 
will speak so that he will be understood.” And he did speak 
to the Bloomington Convention. After this there was no lon- 
ger any opposition to Mr. Lincoln from the most radical of the 
abolitionists. They understood him;,they knew that he was 
wholly with them; that the great inspiration of his life, was the 
restoration of the doctrines of the Declaration of Independence, 
to the administration of the government. 

Mr. Douglas found that his doctrine of, squatter sovereignty 
rather over-acted itself with his own democratic party. He 
builded worse than he had contemplated, and he was brought 
into discord with a wing of his own party on the Lecompton 
Constitution of Kansas, which had been adopted by the Mis- 
souri invaders, and which he strenuously opposed because there 
was too much squatter sovereignty init. But on his return to 
Illinois at the close of the session, in the spring of 1857, Mr. 
Douglas expressed in his speech at Springfield, a determination 
to maintain all the positions he had taken in the Senate on the 
slavery question, intimating that he might even sustain the Le- 
compton Convention, and its slaveholding constitution, and on 
this basis go before the people for re-election. Whenever Mr. 
Douglas made a speech defining his policy, the public expected 
areply from Mr. Lincoln. In this instance they were not dis- 
appointed, and in two weeks Mr. Lincoln reviewed Mr. Dong- 
las’ leading speech. In this speech occurs this remarkable pas- 
sage, referring to a portion of Judge Taney’s memorable Dred 
Scott decision: 


‘In those days (early times of the country) our Declaration of Independence 
was held sacred by all, and thought to include all; but now, to aid in making 
the bondage of the negro universal and eternal, it is assailed, sneered at, con- 
strued, hawked at and torn, till, if its framers could rise from their graves, they 
could not at all recognize it. All the powers of earth seem rapidly combining 
against him. Mammon is after him; ambition follows, philosophy follows, and 


672 The Anti-Slavery Agitation in Illinois. 


the theology of the day is fast joiming the cry. They have him in his prison- 
house; they have searched his person, and left no prying instrument with him. 
One after another they have closed the heavy iron doors upon him; and now they 
have him, as it were, bolted in with a lock of a hundred keys, which can never 
be unlocked without the concurrence of every key; the keys in the hands of a 
hundred different men, and they scattered to a hundred different and distant 
places; and they stand musing as to what invention, in all the dominions of 
mind and matter, can be produced to make the impossibility of his escape more 
complete than it is.”’ 


There is almost the hint of prophecy in this paragraph. Mr. 
Lincoln, in less than eight years, led by Providence, found the 
instrument to unlock that prison-house without the key, and set 
the prisoner free. 

In this same speech at Springfield we find the following: 


‘“‘He (Douglas) finds the Republicans insisting that the Declaration of 
Independence includes ati men, black as well as white, and forthwith he boldly 
denies that it includes negroes at all, and proceeds to argue gravely that all who 
contend that it does, want to vote, eat, sleep and marry with negroes. I pro- 
test against this counterfeit logic. * * * If I donot want a black woman for 
a slave, it does not follow that.I want her for a wife. * * In some respects 
she is not my equal, but in her natural right to eat the bread she earns with 
a Buri coranecae) asking leave of anyone else, she is my equal and the equal 
of all others. 


The Senatorial question was the great question of Illinois in 
the year of 1858. Mr. Douglas was already on the stump in de- 
fense of his measures which he had pressed upon the nation, 
through the Senate. Mr. Lincoln, who was regarded as his nat- 
ural competitor and opponent, had been prompt to volunteer to 
reply to Douglas’ introductory speeches, an extract from one of 
which we have just given. The unusual practice was resorted to 
by the new party of Republicans, of holding a State Convention 
for the nomination of a candidate for Senator, and Mr. Lincoln 
was cordially put in nomination. The question was not to be 
determined by their votes, but by the votes of the representatives 
in the State Legislature. Therefore, in the canvass representa- 
tives were selected in view of settling the Senatorial succession, 
whether it should be Douglas, a democrat, or Lincoln, a Repub- - 
lican. It was well understood that in Mr. Donglas’ case it would 
settle more than the Senatorial question; with him it was also a 
nomination for the Presidency. With Mr. Lincoln it was only 
a contest with this champion Democrat for the senatorship, but 
more in the contest than on anything else, for the prospect of 
defeating Mr. Douglas on his own ground did not seem very 
brilliant. 

This story is told of Mr. Lincoln, that illustrates his view of 
the situation. An inquirer says to Mr. Lincoln, “ What do you” 


“Ty S> 


The Anti-Slavery Agitation in Illinois. 13 


expect to do? You don’t expect to beat Douglas, do you?’ Mr. 
Lincoln responded that it was with him as it was with the boys 
who made an attack on a hornet’s nest. “ What do you expect 
to do, boys? You don’t calculate to take that hornet’s nest, do 
you?” “We don’t know that we shall exactly take it, but we 
shall bedevil the nest.” “So, Mr. Lincoln said, “if we don’t 
capture Douglas we shall hedevil his nest.” That is about the 
way Douglas found it, some time after the election. 

The debate which followed between Lincoln and Douglas, was 
one of the most important political debates that ever “oceurred 
in this country. Mr. Douglas had already become a national 
man through the strength of his character and genius, and for 
his daring in political lofty-tumbling. Mr. Lincoln was not 
well known beyond his own State, but athome well known as a 
keen debater, and a match in logic and hard-drawn arguments 
for his brilliant opponent. 

Mr. Lincoln was nominated as a condidate for the Senate, at the 


convention at Springfield, June 17, 1858. At the close of the 


convention, he struck the key-note of the debate on the issues 
of the day, i in the opening paragraph of his speeeh. It has since 


been numbered with others of the remarkable historical and pro- 


phetical utterances of that wonderful man. It is the famous 
declaration that this Union could not permanently endure half 
slave and half free. It is matched only by Mr. Seward’s “ irre- 
pressible conflict.” Said Mr. Lincoln: 


‘*If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could 
better judge what to do, and how to doit. We are now far in the fifth year, 
since a policy was initiated with the avowed object and confident promise of 
putting an end to slavery agitation. Under the operation of that policy, that 
agitation has not only not closed, but has constantly augmented. In my opimion, 
it will not cease until a crisis has been reached and passed, A house divided 
against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot permanently en- 
dure half slave and half free. I do not expect the union to be dissolved—I do 
not expect the house to fall—but I do expect that it will cease to be divided. It 
will become all one thing or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery will 
arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in 
the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates will 
push it forward till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well as 
new, North, as well as South.”’ 


This was uttered, as Mr. Greeley says, by one born in Ken- 
tucky under the influence of slavery, and but recently a conserv- 
ative politician, four months before, Mr. Seward put forth his 
more Classical prophetic statement; and the two are more in- 
teresting for standing in parallel companionship. Said Mr. 
Seward: 


‘These antagonistic systems are continually coming into closer contact, and 
collision results. Shall I tei! you what this collision means ? They who think 


43 


PM 


674 The Anti-Slavery Agitation in Illinois. 


it is accidental, unnecessary, the work of interested or fanatical agitators, and 
therefore ephemeral, mistake the case altogether. Jt is an irrepressible con- 
flict between opposing and enduring forces: and it means that the United States 
must and will, sooner or later, become either entirely a slave-holding nation, or 
entirely a free-labor nation.” 


In this same Springfield speech Mr. Lincoln gave the best in- 
terpretation ever made of the pepular term of squatter sover- 
eignty, which, while in its proper phase it expressed only the 
rightful basis of government, was so perverted in this case as 
to mean: “If any one man chooses to enslave another, no third 
person shall be allowed to object.” On another occasion he 
forcibly expressed the same idea in the reversed sense: “I ad- 
mit that the emigrant to Kansas and Nebraska is competent to 
g¢overn himself ; ‘but I deny his right to govern any other person 
withont that person’s s consent.” 

In this canvass Mr. Lincoln held seven joint debates with Mr. 
Douglas, and made innumerable speeches on other occasions. 
Mr. Douglas’ character and position was well known throughout 
the nation, and he was regarded as the foremost champion of the 
measures which characterized the slave policy, and one of the 
ablest debaters of the country. The originality and freshness of 
Mr. Lincoln’s speeches—his terse and homely style—the perti- 
nence of his illustrations, and his inimitable humor, attracted to 
him publie attention; and the debate had hardly closed before 
he became equally known throngh the nation, and the eyes of the 
public were upon these two men as the most ‘prominent political 
personages of the country. Mr. Douglas used to say, rather 
sneeringly, during the debate, that Mr. Lincoln was after his 
place—meaning ‘the senatorship. Mr. Lincoln never shrunk 
from the imputation that he was the Republican candidate for that 

‘office. But Mr. Douglas was also looking for another place, of 
which his election to the Senate was only the stepping-stone, and 
that was the Presidency. The thoughts of some may have been 
led in the direction that this new man, rising so rapidly into popu- 
larity in the West, might also be an opposing candidate in the 
same election, but there were then no marked manifest demonstra- : 
tions in that line. But the result was that Mr. Douglas carried a_ 
majority of the representatives; there were in the senate fourteen 
Democrats and eleven Republicans, and in the house forty Dem- 
ocrats aud thirty-five Republicans — making a majority on 
joint ballot of eight for Mr. Douglas—the close vote of Mad- 
ison county even turning the scales but Mr. Lincoln had a plu- 
rality of more than four thousand in the popular vote. And so 
Mr. Douglas kept his place, got his election, and got his coveted 

‘nomination to the presidency, but the nomination of a divided 

party, and he the rock on which it split. 


The Anti-Slavery Agitation in Lilinois. 675 


An overruling Providence seemed to direct in the affairs of the 
nation in the ordering of the fate of this remarkable man, Abra- 
ham Lineoln; in permitting the defeat of the first pdinination, 
when it was a great grief to his friends—and again in the second 
nomination against Mr. Douglas; for he was reserved for the 
higher position of the Presidency. He did not get the * place” 
of Mr. Douglas, to which he and his friends for him aspired, but 
he got that greater place to which Mr. Douglas had been aspir- 
ing, and it was a “place” into which he was called by that Sn- 
preme Ruler of the Universe to whom he had reverently ap- 
pealed, and to a higher position than being the Father of his 
country—-for it was to be its Savior. 

The fact stands, that Mr. Lincoln was elected as the first Re- 
publican President. The party that elected him was formed in 
1854. It came from the nuclens of the Liberty party of 1840, 
which came of the modern anti-slavery agitation. It was not 
the child of the Whig party or any other party; it had had no 
succession, as has been claimed for it, and neither has its oppo- 
nents, the democratic party, any such historical suecession as has 
been claimed for that. The Republican party of Lincoln was 
the restoration of the party of the Declaration of Independence, 
to bring back the nation froma state of apostacy. The demo- 
cratic party had no succession from Thomas Jefferson, for he 
wrote the platform of this restored party when he wrote ‘that 
Declaration. But the Democratic party was born of Andrew 
Jackson, with Martin Van Buren for its god-father, and. it was 
baptized into the doctrine that “to the victor belongs the spoils.” 
In its childhood it was affianced to loaferism and rowdyisin, and 
in its maturity became the ally of American slavery. Mr. Lin- 
coln’s election was the defeat of that party, and it was to have 
been hoped that, ripening inte maturity, in rebellion and treason, 
that its overthrow would have been a death from which there 
was no possible resurrection. 

Mr. Lincoln seemed to have been inspired for the mission to 
which he was called. He doubtless received his early impres- 
sions for his lessons in political reform, from the motto that was 
ever before him in the anti-slavery newspapers which he read, 
and the constant reiterated teachings of the little Liberty par ty 
that was leading his destiny: ‘“ We hold these truths to ‘be self: 
evident, that all men are created equal, and are endowed by their 
creator with certain inalienable rights, ” ete. This was the chord 
of harmony in his soul, to which every sentiment and every ac- 
tion of his being vibrated. Therefore in his debate with Doug- 
lass we find him constantly harping upon that chord. This is 
seen in what we have quoted already, Mr. Douglas treated the 


676 The Anti-Slavery Agitation in Illinois. 


Declaration of Independence with contempt. Mr. Lincoln’s en- 
deavor was to bring back the people from the heartlessness of 
apostacy to a lively sense of the beauty and truthfulness of 
those principles. He felt that they were the sentiments of his 
new party, and he led the party still further along in respect 
and love for those principles as its vitality. 

In the platform of the convention at Chicago, which put Mr. 
Lincoln in nomination for the Presidency, May 16, 1860, is this 
declaration: ‘That the maintenance of the principle promul- 
vated in the Declaration of Independence, and embodied in the 
Federal Constitution—[now repeating the celebrated motto of 
Liberty |—is essential to the preservation of our republican in- 
stitutions; and that the Federal Constitution, the rights of the 
States, and the Union of the Statés, must and shall be pre- 
served.” For that end was Mr. Lincoln, under God, called to 
the head of the nation. 

In the debate Mr. Douglas said: “No man can vindicate 
the character, motives, and conduct of the signers of the Dec- 
laration of Independence except upon the hypothesis that they 
referred to the white race alone, and not to the African.” If 
there were such a thing as political blasphemy, we should think 
this wereit. Mr. Lincoln responded: ‘My good friends, read 
that carefully oversome leisure hour, and ponder well upon it; 
see what a mere wreck, mangled ruin, it makes of our once glo- 
rious Declaration of Independence.” 

After his election, going from his humble home at Springfield, 
to which he never returned alive, on his way to enter into the 
Presidency, he was beset on his way by plots for his assassina- 
tion, but was turned aside by invitation to Philadelphia to a flag- 
raising over Independence Hall, where the Declaration was 
signed eighty-four years before; and on that occasion he gaye ut- 
terance to these remarkable words: 


‘“‘T have often inquired of myself, what great principle or idea it was that 
kept this confederacy so long together. It was something in the Declaration of 
Independence, giving Liberty not only to the people of this country, but hope to 
the world for all future time. It was that which gave promise that, in due 
time the weights should be lifted from the shoulders of all men, and that all 
should have an equal chance. * * * Now, my friends, can this country be 
saved upon this basis? If it can, I will consider myself one of the happiest men 
in the world if I can help to save it. But, if this country cannot be saved with- 
out giving up that principle, I was about to say, I would rather be assassinated 
upon this spot than to surrender it.” 


Did he then know that the assassins were on his track? This 
hope of the world, Judge Douglas and the Democratic party 
would have crushed out. 


The space for this chapter will not permit us to quote the 


The Anti-Slavery Agitation in Lllinors. 677 


abundant extracts from his abundant writings, where he thus 
shows forth the inspiration of his soul, in being the one called 
of God to bring back the nation from its far wanderings from its 
own faith and hope. Charles Sumner, in his memorial oration 
in commemoration of the life of Lincoln, strikes that chord, and 
shows us in numerous extracts what was the secret of the power 
of Lincoln. 

In a measure this a chapter of unwritten history. The scribes 
of history at the East have failed to tell the world of that patient 
working of the anti-slavery men of the Northwest who followed 
the martyrdom of Lovejoy and the example of Lundy in their 
faithful adhesion to the truth of the Revolutionary fathers, and 
in the regenerating power of their Declaration; and that they 
led such a man as Lincoln,in that path of national salvation. It 
is a great truth and marvelous to our comprehension, that the 
policy of the forefathers to keep all our national territory free as 
God had made it, as in the Ordinance of the Northwest, shculd 
be the saving policy of the nation at last, against that apostacy 
that would have made all the nation slave territory; that in the 
area of that ordinance should this problem be worked out; and 
the man, who is styled the Savior of his Country, be called to 
that position by the voice of (rod. 

There is nothing more appropriate with which to close this 
chapter, than that pathetic appeal of Abraham Lincoln to the 
nation, to aid him in his work, in the last sentences of his first 
Inaugural Address: 


‘‘We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though pas- 
sion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic 
chords of memory, stretching from every battle-field and patriotic grave to every 
living heart and hearthstone all over this proud land, will yet swell the chorus of 
the union when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angel of 
our nature.”’ 


678 The Union College of Law. 


THE UNION COLLEGE OF LAW. 


This institution was at first organized as the Law Department 
of the University of Chicago, in the fall of 1859. It was indebted 
for its origin pr oximately to the liberality of some of the leading 
members of the Chicago Bar, conspicuous among whom was 
Hon. Thomas Loyne, who contributed the sum of G5, 000 towards 
the endowment of a law professorship. Other members of the bar 
united in a guaranty to secure to the professor a sum of money 
which, together with the income of the endowment fund, would 
aggregate $2,000 per annum, for such a period as would suffice to 
give the experiment a fair trial. .An invitation was extended to 
Henry Booth, Esq., who was then engaged in the practice of law 
at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., to come and assume the principal charge 
of the new enterprise. Encouraged by this generous expression 
of confidence and assurance of substantial aid on the part of the 
Chicago Bar, Prof. Booth accepted the proposal and entered at 
once upon the work. J udge John M. Wilson and Grant Good- 
rich, of the Superior Court of Chicago, volunteered to assist him 
during the first year. The school was opened in September, 
1859, with twelve students, David Dudley Field, of New York, 
delivering the opening address. The attendance had increased 
to the number of forty or more in the fall of 1861, when upon 
the call for volunteers for the war, the patriotic response was so 
general that the class was at once reduced to seven. During the 
progress of the war, and for some time afterwards, the attendance 
was so small that for want of funds to employ an assistant, Prof. 

300th was compelled to assume nearly the whole burden of con- 
ducting the school, besides which he found it necessary to engage 
in practice for his own support. In 1862, and for two or three 
years ensuing, Hon. H. B. Hurd was associated in the manage- 
ment of the school, and rendered much valuable assistance. In 

1867 Hon. I. G. Wilson, now Judge of the Appellate Court for 
the First District, was envaged i in the school for a year, proving 
a snecessful and very satisfactory instructor. Subsequently, KR. 
Biddle Roberts, Esq., John A. Hunter, Esq., a graduate of the 
‘school, and Van Buren Denslow, Esq., were successively em- 
ployed, and labored earnestly and efficiently in the cause of legal 
education. Many lawyers, now in successful practice in this and 
other States, will long retain pleasant recollections of the services 
of these gentlemen in their behalf. But during the whole period, 
from the commencement of the school until the fall of 1870, the 
chief burden and labor of instruction was borne by Prof. Booth. 


5 
fp 


° 


The Union College of Law. 679 


Besides attending to his own department, whenever for any 
cause his associates were unable to attend to their duties, he took 
the vacant place, and during nearly half of the period aforesaid, 
he had no assistance whatever. 

In July, 1870, concurrently with the adoption of the new con- 
stitution, Prof. Booth was elected to the bench of the Circuit 
Court of Cook county, and for a season retired from active duty 
in the school, only giving an occasional lecture. 

The great fire of 1871 temporarily broke up the school, but the 
students soon rallied under the charge of Professors Roberts and 
Hunter, who continued to perform the duty of instruction until 
the following summer, when they both retired from the service. 
In September, 1872, at the usual time of opening the school for 
the fall term, a class of twenty pupils having presented them- 
selves for instruction, and no one appearing to perform the duty, 
Judge Booth volunteered to teach them gratuitously, devoting 
an hour in the inorning before going into court, and another hour 
in the evening after adjournment. "In this manner the school 
was kept from disbanding until February following, when Prof. 
Denslow partially relieved him of a duty which was becoming 
somewhat burdensome. Judge Booth, however, still continued 
to render gratuitous service to the extent of teaching an hour 
each day after court, during nearly the whole of his official term 
of nine years. 

In the summer of 1873 the Northwestern University deter- 
mined to carry into effect its long cherished plan of connecting 
a Law Department with that institution. The friends and premo- 
ters of legal education were strongly impressed with the convic- 
tion that ‘the existence of two rival law schools in Chicago would 
be highly detrimental, and that the end in view could be best 
served by a union of the two Universities in the support of a 
single school. Overtures were therefore made between parties 
representing these two institutions, respectively, which resulted 
in a concession by the University of Chicago, to the Nortlwest- 
ern University, of an equal and joint interest in the Law School. 
By this plan the Union College of Law, which is the name as- 
sumed under the new arrangement, is placed under the control 
of a joint Board of Management, consisting of eight gentlemen, 
four of whom are chosen by the trustees of each University, the 
President of the University being included in the number. Con- 
currently with the adoption of the new plan, the corps of profes- 
sors was enlarged by the election of Hon. Lyman Trumbull and 
Phillip Myers, Esq., on behalf of the Northwestern University, 
and Hon. James R. Doolittle on behalf of the Univ >rsity of Chi- 
cago, Prof. Denslow being also retained on behalf of the latter 


680 The Union College of Law. 


institution. Judge Booth also continued his connection with the 
school, as Dean of the Law Faculty. 

Under this arrangement the Union College of Law has enjuyed 
a higher degree of prosperity than ever before. The professors 
now in charge are Hon. Henry Booth, L. L. D., Dean; Hon. Wil- 
liam W. Far well, A. M., late judge of the Circuit Court of Cook 
county, on the Chancery side; Hon. Harvey B. Hurd, reviser of 
the Statutes of [llinois; Hon. Marshall D. Ewell, 1b: D.,“aue 
thor of the work on Fixtures bearing his name, and a law writer 
of acknowledged ability; and Dr. Nathan 8. Davis, M. D., L. L. 
D., Lecturer upon Medical Jurisprudence. The usual number 
of students in attendance at present is about one hundred. The 
College has adopted a graded course of study, requiring for its 
completion two years, of thirty-six weeks each. The diploma ad- 
mits to the bar, and it is the aim of the faculty to secure thor- 
oughnegss, and to elevate the standard of legal education. Prac- 
tice in moot courts, training in forensic speaking and extempo- 
raneous debate, constitute part of the exercises of the school. 
The most serious obstacle which the Union College of Law has 
to contend with, is that presented by the numerous law schools 
springing up,in the West, some of them offering a course of. 
study requiring one short school year for its completion; others 
occupying two years, of twenty-four weeks each; all necessarily 
eee, by reason of the brevity of the term of study—all 
lacking the thorough drill given in this institution, but at the 
same time presenting to the student the tempting offer of a di- 
ploma without much hard study, and the hope of an easy access 
to the bar. With such institutions the Union College of Law 
can enter into no competition, but relying upon the just appreci- 
ation of the legal profession and of the public, will strive to de- 
serve success, as well as to win it. 

This school has no endowment whatever; the fund originally 
contributed by Mr. Hoyne for that purpose, having unfortunately 
been lost in the financial embarrassments of the par rent institution. 
The moderate compensation of the professors is derived wholly 
trom what remains of the tuition fees, after deducting therefrom 
the rent of rooms and other incidental expenses. Consequently 
the professors find it necessary to pursue other business to obtain a 
support. This isunfortunate in some respects. To come before 
the class wearied with the labors of the brush, or the contests of the 
bar, is to teach under great disadvantage. The professor should be 
in a situation to give his freshest energies and best thoughts to 
his work. Whether the Union Col lege of Law will ever be so 
happily cireumstanced that its professors can devote their whole 
time to the business of instruction, is a problein for the future. 


The Union College of Law. 681 


Such a consummation is perhaps too much to expect. While it 
is considered that all educational institutions require endowment 
or public support to secure the best results, Law Schools of all 
others seem to be least favored; yet, it would seem that there 
might well be a public and general interest taken in the support 
of schools for the tr aining of those who are to mold the legislation 
of the State for good or evil, and who must be depended on for 
the-administration of justice. 

This sketch would be quite defective without mentioning in 
terms of the highest commendation the liberality of the Law In- 
stitute, a. corporation composed of gentlemen of the Chicago Bar 
in opening the door of its excellent hbrary to students ofthe 
Union College of law, free of charge. 


DIE FREIE PRESSE OF CHICAGO. 
By Max. EBERHARDT. 


The first number of the Freie Presse was issued in Chicago of July 2, 1871; 
it was then published as a weekly, and was in sympathy with the Liberal 
wing of the Republican party, and subsequently proved a very keen and able 
advocate of the movement which, as we all know, resulted in the nomination of 
Horace Greely for the Presidency. The great fire which occurred not many 
months after the paper had been started, interfered with the issue of but one 
number. The paper was published as a weekly until February 5, 1872, when it 
began to be issued as a daily and weekly, besides having a separate i issue on 
Sunday. Though started without the aid of much capital, its rapid growth and 
success as a ready spokesman, and an unflinching advocate of a broad Liberal 
policy within the Republican party, are but evidence of the energy and perse- 
verance which Mr. Michaelis has devoted to the business and editorial manage- 
ment of the paper. It is now being published by the German American Pub- 
lishing Company, and employs 108 persons in its various departments. It still 
maintains its position as an independent Republican newspaper, and provides a 
larger number of Germans with reading matter than any German newspaper 

concern in the country. The Freie Presse is entirely free from debt, and its 
business is managed on a sound financial basis, and with a view to a ready and 
strict discharge of all its obligations. It is one of the many enterprises in the 
city of Chicago which testify to the rapid growth, not only of the Western me- 
tropolis, but of the entire Northwest. 


THE GREAT FIRE OF 1871. 


“A voice is ringing in the air, 
A tale is trembling on the wire, 
The people shout in wild despair: 
‘Chicago is on fire.’”* 


In the year 1871 A. D., and the year 38 of the existence of 
Chicago as a city, on the 1 th, 8th and 9th of October, occurred 
the oreat fires. They mark an episode in Chicago history never 
to be forgotten. The official census of the city for 1870 was 
298,977. Its population at the time of the fires, one year later, 
at a prudent estimate, may be set down eight per cent. more, 
making 322,895. A small portion only of these were born here. 
They had been drawn hither by those incentives which the local- 
ity offered for speculation, not only in the rise of real estate, but 
in the facilities which the place offered as an emporium for the 

sale of every kind of merchandise, to supply the increasing wants 
of the great Northwest in the building up process in which she 
was then, and must still for many years, be engaged, before she 
will have taken upon herself the conditions of political and social 
maturity. 

The extra stimulus which the war had given to the increase ot 
business in Chicago had subsided, and a lull in that impulsive 
haste that had long o been a distinguishing feature here, had set- 
tled upon the city. The volume of staple business was without 
diminution, the real estate market was firm, and the demand for 
this important auxiliary to wealth was healthy; but yet there 
was evidently an undercurrent manifest in moneyed circles, sig- 
nifying that prices of it would not soon again advance, at least, 
by any eccentric movement. After the war was over, a gener al 
expectation followed that prices for everything would fall imme- 
diately, and as one, two, three and four years had passed without 
any serious reduction, either in goods or real estate, the people 
of Chicago had begun to believe that no such destiny was in store 
for them. Such was the feeling in the spring of 1871. 

The latter part of the summer and -autumn following passed 
without rain in the entire Northwest. The whole country was 
so exhausted of moisture that even the night refused her cus- 
tomary allowance of dew on the vegetation, and the grass was 
crisp beneath the feet of the hungry cattle of the pasture. The 


*“ The Fall of Chicago,” a poem written by Mrs. 8. B. Olsen, while the fire 
was burning, and published in a pamphlet. 


(682) 


The Great Fire of 1871. 683 


earth was dry as ashes to the depth of three feet, and the peaty 
bogs of the marsh were as combustible as the contents of the 
furnace. Southern winds prevailed, bringing warmth without 
moisture, and fanned the forests into universal tinder. Even the 
summer’s growth of the prairie would feed a flame in places 
where it had not been grazed down or mowed. Chicago was not 
unlike the country around in dr yness, and, unfortunately, the 
well-built buildings of stone and brick which composed her cen- 
tral portions were : partly surrounded by cheap wooden buildings, 
characteristic of all Western cities of sudden growth. It was 
among these that a fire broke out a little before ten o’clock on 
the night of October 7, 1871, on Clinton street, near its crossing 
of Van Buren street, two blocks west of the river. Owing to 
the inflammable character of the building where it began, “and 
the strong wind that blew directly from the south, it quickly 
spread to adjacent buildings, and ere it could be extinguished, 
burnt over the area lying between Van Buren street on the south, 
Clinton on the west, Adams on the north, and the river on the 
east, except one or two small buildings on the outermost corners 
of. the blocks. 

This was the largest fire that had ever visited Chicago up to 
this date. 

The next evening, Sunday night, October 8, at about the same 
hour, a fire broke out six blocks south of the first fire, in a cow- 
stable on the north side of De Koven street, a little east of Jef- 
terson. The current account at the time attributed it to the 
kicking over of a kerosene lamp by a cow, while its owner, a wo- 
man named O’Leary, was milking her, and in the turmoil of the 
hour, this theory was accepted as a veritable truth, published in 
the newspapers, and even in some of the books giving the his- 
tory of the fire, but no evidence can be found to sustain it, while, 
on the contrary, the following statement would go to disprove it, 
or, at least, involve the cause of the fire in mystery. On the 
following morning, (Monday), Clinton S$. Snowden, now city ed- 
itor of the Chicago Times, and Edgar L. Wakeman, now man- 
ager of the Louisville Courier-Journal for Chicago, while the 
fire was yet consuming the buildings in the North Division, vis- 
ited the scene where it started. Here they found a large crowd 
of excited men speculating on its cause, and here was the hut of 
O'Leary, with doors and windows barred, while her cow stable. 
where all the crowd supposed that the fire or iginated, was re- 
duced tv ashes. The two sight-seers now determined to force a 
passage into the O’Leary hut, and to this end pried up one of the 
back windows with a board and entered the premises. 

They found Mrs. O’Leary in a fearful state of suspense lest 
she should be arrested as an incendiary, but somewhat under the 


684 The Great Fire of 1871. 


influence of stimulants to brace up her courage for the occasion. 
She solemnly denied any knowledge of the cause of the fire, and 
if she knows its cause, without doubt she will carry the mysteri- 
ous burden while she lives. The above circumstances are stated 
because they describe the first interviewing of Mrs. O’Leary, and 
both of the gentlemen are now well-known journalists of Chi- 
cago. Their statement accords with the following, from the 
foreman of the first engine company on the ground, which is- 
here inserted as official: 


Cuicaco, November 14, 1880. 

Mr. Rufus Blanchard, Dear Sir:—In compliance with your re- 
quest as to the origin and condition of the great Chicago fire, J 
would state, that being the first officer at the fire, that I received 
an alarm from the man in watch-tower of engine company No. 
6, one minute in advance of the alarm given by the watchman 
in city hall tower. On my arrival at the fire, which was in the 
alley bounded by Jefferson, Clinton, Taylor and DekKoven 
streets, I discovered three or more barns and sheds on fire. 

I connected to the nearest fire plug, located on the corner of 
Jefferson and DeKoven streets, and went to work. As to which 
barn the fire originated in, I could not say. 

As to the fire not being checked in its northward progress, I 
would state in explanation, that previous to the great fire of 
1871, watchmen were stationed in the city hall tower, to keep a 
lookout for fires; and if a fire was discovered by either of the 
men, he called the operator on duty in the fire alarm office, loca- 
ted on the third floor below the watch-tower, and instructed him 
what box to strike. 

On the evening of Oct. 8, 1871, the watchman on duty in the 
city hall tower, discovered the fire, and ordered the operator to 
strike a box located one mile southwest from the fire, which he 
should have located one mile northeast, and which would have 
brought the first alarm engines instead of the second, which re- 
sponded to the alarm given by watchman, the first alarm en- 
gines remaining at their respective houses. In conclusion, I 
would state that the above are facts. 

Wirtram Musuam, 
Foreman of Engine Co. No. 6. 


Whatever might have been its cause, there is no reasonable 
suspicion that it was the result of incendiarism. Before the 
strong south-westerly wind which was then blowing, it penetrated 
diagonally across block after block, at first cutting a swath about 
80 teet wide, gradually increasing in width in passing through 
the cheap wooden buildings in its track, leaving behind a fiery 


The Great Fire of 1871. 685 


wake, making slow but sure inroads, laterally on both sidex, 
At 11:30 it had reached the open ruins of the previous night’s 
devastations, Though up to this time the utmost exertions of 
the firemen had been feeble and unavailing against the progress of 
the flames, it was hoped that the broad space burnt the night 
before would arrest the northern progress of the fire, and the river 
its eastern progress. Butby this time it had attacked the planing 
mills and various manufactures of lumber along the west side ot 
the river, between Taylor and Van Buren streets, and a living 
mass of fire, covering a hundred acres of combustibles, shot up 
into the clouds, lighting up the midnight hour with a sheet of 
flame, which dashed hope of arresting its career to the ground. 
At one bound the wind carried burning brands, not only across 
the river, but even to Franklin Street. These newly kindled 
fires immediately spread, and the South Side was ablaze; and now 
it assumed proportions that exceeded in magnitude its intensity 
thus far. The whole South Division was now thoroughly sine 
it being evident that not only the entire business area of the city 
must burn, but nearly the entire North Division lay in the track 
of the destroyer in its irresistible progress before the wind. Still 
a ray of hope was left to the North-siders, and to the owners of 
the Tribune building also, which was supposed to be fire proof. 
This hope was dispelled two hours later, as will appear from the 
following account, written in Sheahan & Upton’s History, from 
notes as they viewed the scene from the upper windows of the 
Tribune building: 

« About one o’clock, a cloud of black smoke rose in the south- 
west, which, colored by the lurid glare of the flames, presented a 
remarkable picture. Due west another column of smoke and 
fire rose, while the north was lighted with flying cinders and 
destructive brands. In ten minutes more, the whole horizon to 
the west, as far as could be seen from the windows, was a fire 
cloud with flames leaping up along the whole line, just showing 
their heads and ean from view like tongues of snakes. Five 
minutes more wrought a change. Peal after peal was sounded 
from the Court House bell. The fire was on La Salle street, had 
swept north, and the Chamber of Commerce began to belch forth 
smoke and flame from windows and ventilators. The east wing 
of the Court House was alight; then the west wing; the tower 
was blazing on the south side, and at two o’clock the whole build- 
ing was in a sheet of flame. The Chamber of Commerce burned 
with a bright steady flame. ‘Lhe smoke in front grew denser for 
a minute or two, and then bursting into a blaze from Monroe to 
Madison streets, proclaimed that Farwell Hall and the buildings 
north and south of it were on fire. At 2.10 o’clock the Court 
ILouse tower was a glorious sight. At 2.15 o’clock the tower 


686 The Great Fire of 1871. 


fell, and in two minutes more a crash announced the fall of the 
interior of the building. The windows of the office were hot, and 
the flames gavea light almost dazzling in its intensity. It be- 
came evident that the whole block from Clark to Dearborn, and 
from Monroe to Madison, mnst go; that the block from Madison to 
Washington must follow; Portland Block was ablaze, while every- 
thing from Clark to Dearborn, on Washington strect, was on fire. 
At 2.80 the fire was half-way down Madison street; the wind 
blew a hurricane; the firebrands were hurled along the ground 
with incredible force against everything that stood in their way. 
Then the flames shot up in the rear of Reynolds’ block, and the 
Tribune building seemed doomed. An effort was made to save 
the files and other valuables, which were moved into the compos- 
ing room, but the building stood like a rock, lashed on both sides 
by raging waves of flame, and it was abandoned. It was a fire 
proof building; and there were not a few who expected to see it 
stand the shock. The greatest possible anxiety was felt for it, as 
it was the key to the whole block, including Mc Vicker’s Theatre, 
and protected State street and Wabash and Michigan avenues, north 
of Madison street. When the walls of Reynolds’ Block fell, and 
Cobb’s building was no more, the prospects of its standing were 
good. Several persons were up-stairs and found it cool and 
pleasant—quite a refreshing haven from the hurricane of smoke, 
dust and cinders that assailed the eyes. 

“Meanwhile the fire had swept along northward and eastward. 
The Briggs House, the Sherman House, the Tremont House, had 
fallen in a few minutes. The bridges from Wells to Rush street 
were burning; the Northwestern Depot was in a blaze, and from 
Van Buren street on the south, far over into the north side, from 
the river to Dearborn street, the whole country was a mass of 
smoke, flames and ruin. It seemed as if the city east of Dearborn 
street and to the river would be saved. The hope was strength- 
ened when the walls fell of Honore’s noble block without ignit- 
ing that standing opposite. The vacant lot to the sonth seemed 
to protect it, and at seven o’clock on Monday morning the whole 
of the region designated was considered saved, no fire being 
visible except a smouldering fire in the barber’s shop under the 
Tribune office, which being confined in brick walls, was not con- 
sidered dangerous. Every effort was made to quench it, but 
the water works had burned, and the absence of water, while it 
announced how far north the flames had reached, forbade any 
hope of quenching the fire below. 

There was one remarkable turning point in this fire, in which 
everything was remarkable; and that was at Madison street bridge, 
where every one expected to see the fire re-cross to the west aaa 
and commence upon a new path of destruction. Directly across 


: The Great Fire of 1871. 687 
this bridge were the Oriental Flouring Mills, which were saved 
from destruction by the immense steam foree pump attached to 
the mill, by which a powerful stream of water was thrown upon 
the exposed property, hour after hour. This pump undoubtedly 
saved the West Division from a terrible conflagration, for if the 
Oriental Mills had burned, the combustible nature of the ad- 
joining buildings and adjacent lumber yards would have insured 
a scene of devastation too heart-sickening for contemplation. 
The scene presented when the fire was at, its height in the 
South Division, is well nigh indescribable. The huge stone and 
brick structures melted before the fierceness of the flames as a 
snow-flake melts and disappears in water, and almost as quickly. 
Six-story buildings would take fire, and disappear forever from 
sight, in five minutes by the watch. In nearly every street the 
flames would enter at the rears of buildings, and appear simulta- 
neously at the fronts. Foran instant the windows would redden, 
then great billows of fire would belch out, and meeting each other, 
shoot up into the air a vivid, quivering column of flame, and 
poising itself in awful majesty, hurl itselt bodily several hundred 
feet and kindle new buildings. The intense heat created new 
currents of air. The general direction of the wind was from the 
southwest. This main current carried the fire straight through 
the city, from southwest to north-east, cutting a swath a mile in 
width, and then, as if maddened at missing any of its prey, it 
would turn backward in its frenzy and face the fierce wind, mow- 
ing one hage field on the west of the North Division, while in 
the South Division it also doubled on its track at the great Un- 
ion Central Depot, and burned half a mile southward in the 
very teeth of the gale—a gale which blew a perfect tornado, and 
in which no vessel could have lived on the lake. The flames 
sometimes made glowing diagonal arches across the streets, trav- 
ersed by whirls of smoke. At times, the wind would seize the 
entire volume of fire on the front of one of the large blocks, de- 
tach it entirely and hurl it in every direction, in fierce masses of 
flame, leaving the building as if it had been untouched—tor an 
instant only, however, for fresh gusts would once more wrap 
them in sheets of fire. The whole air was filled with glowing 
cinders, looking like an illuminated snow storm, At times ca- 
pricious flurries of the gale would seize these flying messengers 
of destruction and dash them down to the earth, hurrying them 
over the pavements, with lightning-like rapidity, firing every- 
thing they touched. Interspersed among these cinders Were 
larger brands, covered with flame, which the wind dashed 
through windows and upon awnings and roots, kindling new 
fires. Strange, fantastic fires of blue, red and green, played 
along the cornices of the buildings. On the:banks of the river, 


688 The Great Fire of 1871. 


red hot walls fell hissing into the water, sending up great col- 
umns of spray and exposing the fierce white furnace of heat, 
which they had enclosed. The huge piles of coal emitted dense 
billows of smoke which hurried along far above the flames be- 
low. If the sight was grand and overpowering, the sound was | 
no less so. The flames crackled, growled and hissed. The lime 
stone, of which many of the buildings were composed, as soon 
as it was exposed to heat flaked off, the fragments flew in every 
direction, with a noise like that of continuous discharges of mus- 
ketry. Almost every instant was added the dull, heavy thud of 
falling walls, which shook the earth. But above all these sounds, 
there was one other which was terribly fascinating; it was the 
steady roar of the advancing flames—the awtul diapason in this 
carnival of fire. It was like nothing so much as the united roar 
of the ocean with the howl of the blast on some stormy, rocky 
coast. 

Great calamities always develop latent passions, emotions, and 
traits of character, hitherto concealed. In this case, there was a 
world-wide difference in the manner in which men witnessed the 
destruction of all about them. Some were philosophical, eveu 
merry, and witnessed the loss of their own property with a calm 
shrug of the shoulders, although the loss was to bring upon 
them irretrievable ruin. Others clenched their teeth together, 
and witnessed the sight with a sort of grim defiauce. Others, 
who were strong men, stood in tears, and some became fairly 
frenzied with excitement and rushed about in au aimless manner, 
doing exactly what they would not have done in their cooler mo- 
ments, and almost too delirious to save their own lives from the 
general wreck. Of course, the utmost disorder and excitement 
prevailed, for nearly every one was in some, degree demoralized, 
and in the absence both of gas and water, had given up the en- 
tire city to its doom. Mobs of men and women rushed wildly 
from street to street, screaming, gesticulating, and shouting, 
crossing each other’s paths, and intercepting each other as if just 
escaped froma mad house. The yards and sidewalk of Michi- 
gan and Wabash avenues for a distance of two miles south of the 
fire limit in the South Division, were choked with household 
goods of every description—the contents of hovels, and the con- 
tents of aristocratic residences, huddled together in inextrica- 
ble confusion. Elegant ladies who hardly supposed themselves 
able to litt the weight of a pincushion, astonished themselves by 
dragging trunks, and carrying heavy loads of pictures and orna- 
mental furniture for a long distance. Some Hiss theinselves 
with all their jewelry, for the purpose of saving it, and strug- 
gled along through the crowds, perhaps only to lose it at the 
hands of some rutiian. Delicate girls, with red eyes and black- 


The Great Fire of 1871. 689 


ened faces, toiled, hour after hour, to save household goods. 
Poor women staggered along with their arms full of homely 
household wares, and mattresses on their heads, which sometimes 
took fire as they were carrying them. Every few steps along the 
avenues were little piles of household property, or, perhaps, only 
a trunk, guarded by children, some of whom were weeping, and. 
others laughing and playing. Here was a man sitting upon. 
what he had saved, bereft of his senses, looking at the motley 
throng with staring, vacant eyes; here, a woman, weeping and 
tearing her hair, and calling for her children in utter despair;. 
here, children, hand-in-hand, separated from their parents, and’ 
crying with the heart-breaking sorrow of childhood; here, a wo- 
man, kneeling on the hot ground, and praying, with her crucifix. 
before her. One family had saved a coffee-pot and chest of draw- 
ers, and raking together the falling embers in the street, were 
boiling their coffee as cheerily as it at home. Barrels of liquor 
_ were rolled into the streets from the saloons. The heads were: 
speedily knocked in, and men and boys drank to excess, and’ 
staggered about the streets. Some must have miserably perished 
in the flames, while others wandered away into the unburned dis-. 
trict, and slept a drunken sleep upon the sidewalks and in dcor- 
yards. ‘Thieves pursued their profession with perfect impunity. 
Lake street and Glark street were rich with treasure, and hordes 
of thieves entered the stores, and flung out goods to their fel- 
lows, who bore them away without opposition. Wabash avenue 
was literally choked up with goods of every description. Every 
one who had been forced from the burning portion of the divis- 
ion had brought some articles with them, and been forced to. 
drop some, or all of them. Valuable oil paintings, books, pet 
animals, instruments, toys, mirrors, bedding, and ornamental and 
useful articles of every kind, were trampled under foot by the: 
hurrying crowds. The streets leading southward from the fire 
were jammed with vehicles of every description, all driven alone 
at top speed. Not only the goods which were deposited in the 
streets took fire, but wagon loads of stuff in transit, also kindled, 
and the drivers were obliged to cut the traces to save the animals. 
There was fire overhead, everywhere, not only on the low, red 
clouds, which rolled along the roofs, but in the air itself, filled 
with millions of blazing fagots, that carried destruction wherever 
they fell. Those who did rescue anything from the burning 
buildings, were obliged to defend it at the risk of their lives. 
Expressmen and owners of every description of wagons, were 
extortionate in their demands, asking from twenty to fifty dollars. 
for conveying a small load a few blocks. Even then there was 
no surety that the goods would reach their place of destination, 
as they were often followed by howling crowds, who, would 


690 Lhe Great Fire of 1671. 


snatch the goods from the wagons. Sometimes, thieves got pos- 
session of vehicles, and drove off with rich loads of dry goods, 
jewelry, or merchandise, to out-of-the-way places.” 

As early as three o’clock, on the morning of the 9th, the fire 
attacked the North Side. It has not been definitely known ~ 
where it first began, but it is certain that the Water Works, a 
mile distant from any portion of the blazing South Side, were 
among the first buildings visited; and their speedy destruction, 
cutting off the water supply, all hopes of extinguishing the fire 
fled. Two large elevators on the north bank of the river were 
also in flames immediately afterwards, and the wretched inhab- 
itants living east of Franklin street, beheld with dismay the ap- 
proach of the destroyer both in front and rear. Suddenly the 
entire population seized the most valuable things they could 
carry, and fled, either to the lake shore, or westward across the 
river, or directly before the pursuing enemy, northwardly out 
‘Clark or Wells Street. Says Mr. Colbert: 7 

“A terrible panic ensued. There was sudden screaming and 
dashing about of half-clad women, gathering up such valuables 
as could be suddenly snatched. There was frantic rushing into 
the streets and shouting for vehicles. There was anxious inquiry 
and anon distressed cries for absent protectors—a large portion 
of the men being on the far side of the river, and in many cases 
unable to reach their homes. Then there was a pell-mell rush 
through the streets, sone of the wild faces pushing eagerly in 
this direction and others quite as eagerly in the opposite; and 
children screaming; and shouts resounding; and brands falling 
in showers; and truckmen running each other down; and half- 
drunken, wholly desperate ruffians peering into doors and seizing 
valuables, and insulting women; and oaths from lips unused to 
them, as hot as the flames which leaped and crackled near by; 
and prayers from manly breasts where they had slumbered since 
childhood; and every other sign of turmoil and terror.” 

Those who took refuge on the sands of the lake-shore, found 
it a treacherous asylum. ‘There was no escape to the northward, 
tor the narrow passes farther in that direction were a sweltering 
current of hot air pouring over the crested margin of the lake, 
like the vomiting of a furnace.. Meantime the heat soon began 
to be almost insupportable where they were, and in this extrem- 
ity, at places, they were forced into the shallow waters of the lake 
to protect themselves from burning till they could be rescued in 
boat. 

By four o’clock in the afternoon of the 9th, the fire had burned 
out. Its progress against the wind on the South Side was ar- 
rested by the etforts of private citizens and a small military force 
under Gen. Sheridan; but on the North Side it burned. as long 


ch 


The Great Fure of 1871. 691 


as buildings stood before it, and died away on the open prairie for 
want of fuel. 

In its early stages, after the flames had crossed the river, and 
were rapidly devouring the business portion of the city in the 
South Division, Lind Block, on the west side of Market Street, 
between Randolph and Lake, by dint of great exertion on the part 
of some of its tenants, successfully resisted them. The well- 
known house of Fuller & Fuller, occupied the central portions of 
this block; and in reply to the writer’s inquiry how it was saved, 
Mr. O. F. Fuller stated that while the fire was burning on the 
West Side, and approaching towards them, they took the precan- 
tion to provide an abundant supply of water on each floor of 
their premises, and constantly applied it to the most exposed 
portions of the building when the fire reached their immediate 
vicinity, having previously cut away wooden signs or any other 
combustible material outside. During the greatest heat the 
outside walls of the block were too hot to bear the hand on, but 
still every man remained at his post inside on each floor, subject 
to the order of a sentinel, whose business it was to eall them 
away if the building ignited. Three times a retreat was ordered, 
under an impression that combustion had taken place, but hap- 
pily this impression was a false alarm, growing out of the lurid 
glare from adjacent flames, reflected from the windows of the 
building, and each time the men returned to their posts, where 
they continued to ply water to the heated windows, while was 
raging 

“Fire to right of them, 


Fire to left of them, 
Fire in front of them.” 


Said Mr. Fuller: “The fire, viewed from the rouf of Lind Block 
at this time, presented phases of thrilling interest. At two o’clock 
a.m., Market street and the approaches to Lake and Randolph 
street bridges were crowded with loaded vehicles hurrying to the 
West Side, and this retreat grew into a stampede when the Gar- 
den City hotel, and the buildings on the East side of Market 
street, from Madison to South Water, ignited. After burning 
fiercely for but a briefspace of time, they fell in quick succession 
in the general ruin.” 

The next morning when the light of the sun was piercing 
through the smoke and flames that now enshrouded the entire 
business portion of the South Division, there stood Lind Block, 
a solitary relict of its former grandeur. Beyond it, toward the 
East, the eye could catch transient glimpses of many a grim 
old ruin in its ragged deformity, amidst the accumulating 
clouds of smoke that rose to the sky in dissolving forms, and told 


692 The Great Fue of 1871. 


the tale of destruction. Besides Lind Bloeckin the South Division, 
the house of Mahlon B. Ogden, in the central track of the fire 
in the North Division, was saved, while all else around it was 
left in ashes. 

Mr. Ogden, shortly after the fire, informed the writer that he 
remained in his house as long as he could without being sur- 
rounded by fire, when he, with his family, retreated with the 
crowd; but that he kept the roof of his house covered with wet 
carpets while he was in it, and it being in the inside of a square, 
with trees all around, as if by a miracle it did not burn. 

No attempt will here be made to record personal incidents of 
the fire. These are almost infinite, and their records may be 
found in the several large volumes pnblished inimediately after 
the fire, but the following account of the action of the city au- 
thorities, taken from the ‘Report of the Chicago Relief and Aid 
Society, is an historical document which shows the elastic force 
of the people of Chicago in their promptness to grapple with the 
duties before them: 

“The homeless people of the South Side were for the most 
part received into the abodes of their more fortunate neighbors, 
or taken to the hearts and hospitalities of those to whom a day 
before they were utter strangers, without formalities or ceremonies, 
for a kindred sorrow which had left no human interest untouched 
had done its work. 

“Those of the North Division had betaken themselves for the 
night to the sands of the lake shore, to Lincoln and other small 
parks, and the ¢prairies. Comparatively few had found shelter 
tor the night. 

“Those of the West. Division who were left homeless were for 
the most part sheltered in the churches and school-houses, and 
on the prairies on the northwest of the city. Comparatively few 
ot those who had fled before the flames, had tasted food since 
early Sunday evening, and hunger came to them to add its terrors 
to those of exposure, and in many instances apprehension of 
death. 

“ And then came the greatest terror of all, the consciousness of 
the fact that families had been separated; husbands and wives, 
parents and children were missing. The flight had been so 
rapid, and in all directions the thoroughfares had been so ob- 
structed, and in some cases utterly. impassable, by the crowding 
of vehicles and masses of people, and the city itself a wave ot 
fire—it is no marvel that under these circumstances, thousands 
tor the time were lost sight of, and became lonely wanderers, and 
that hundreds perished in the flames. 

“The seeds of permanent or temporary disease sown, the bodily 
suffering and mental anguish endured, can never have statistical 
computation, or adequate description, 


The Great Fire of 1871. 693 


“The bodies of the dead, not less than three hundred in number, 
who perished in the flames, were given interment at the county 
burying ground. 

“The city authorities were prompt in their endeavors to bring 
order out of the chaos which, in some measure, we have assayed 
to describe. The Mayor telegraphed to neighboring cities, first 
of all, for engines to help stay the ravages of the fire, and for 
bread to feed the homeless and destitute.” 

A council of city officers was held, who issued and signed thie 
following, which was the first proclamation from the Mayor and 
Government: 


PROCLAMATION. 


WueEnEas, In the providence of God, to whose will we humbly submit, a 
terrible calamity has befallen our city, which demands of us our best efforts for 
the preservation of order and the relief of suffering: 

Be it known, That the faith and credit of the city of Chicago are hereby 
pledged for the necessary expenses for the relief of the suffering. 

Public order will be preserved. The police and special police now being ap- 
pointed will be responsible for the maintenance of the peace and the protection 
of property. 

All officers and men of the Fire Department and Health Department will act 
as special policemen without further notice. 

The Mayor and Comptroller will give vouchers for all supplies furnished by 
the different relief committees. 

The headquarters of the City Government will be at the Congregational 
Church, corner of West Washington and Ann streets. 

All persons are warned against any act tending to endanger property. Per- 
sons caught in any depredation will be immediately arrested. 

Meg the help of God, order and peace and private property will be pre- 
served. 

The City Government and the committee of citizens pledge themselves to the 
community to protect them, and prepare the way for a restoration of public 
and private welfare. 

It is believed the fire has spent its force, and all will soon be well. 

R. B. Mason, Mayor. 
GEORGE TayLor, Comptroller. 
(By R. B. Mason.) 
CuAruEs C. P. HoupEn, President Common Council. 
T. B. Brown, President Board of Police. 
October 9, 1871, 2 p. m. 


Promptly following the above proclamation, and growing out 
of the exigencies of the day, or the hour, as it came, others were 
issued; and no better account of the action of the municipal gov- 
ernment can be given than that which is contained in these sev- 
eral official papers, and therefore, without comment, which would 
be needless, the text of these proclamations, which in some in- 
stances were only fly-sheets, is Baresi given. 


BREAD ORDINANCE.—NOTICE. 
CuIcaGco, October 10, 1871. 


The following ordinance was passed at a meeting of the Commen Council of 
the city of Chicago, on the 10th day of October, A. D., 1871: 


694 The Great Fire of 1871. 


An Ordinance 


Be it ordained by the Common Council of the City of Chicago :— 

SxcTIon 1. That the price of bread in the City of Chicago for the next ten 
days is hereby fixed and established at ezght (8) cents per loaf of twelve ounces, 
and at the same rate for all loaves of less or greater weight. 

Sec. 2. Any person selling or attempting to sell any bread within the limits 
of the City of Chicago, within said ten days, at a greater price than is fixed in 
this ordinance, shall be liable to a penalty of ten (10) dollars for each and every 
offense, to be collected as other penalties for violation of City Ordinances. 

Suc. 8. This Ordinance shall be in full force and effect from and after its 
passage. 

Approved October 10, 1871. 
Attest: R. B. MASON, Mayor. 
C. T. Horcuxiss, City Clerk. 


MAYOR’S PROCLAMATION—ADVISORY AND PRECAUTIONARY. 


1. All citizens are requested to exercise great caution in the use of fire in 
their dwellings, and not to use kerosene lights at present, as the city will be 
without a full supply of water for probably two or three days. 

2. The following bridges are passable, to wit: All bridges (except Van Bu- 
ren and Adams streets) from Lake Street south, and all bridges over the North 
Branch of the Chicago River. 

3. <All good citizens who are willing to serve are requested to report at the 
corner of Ann and Washington streets, to be sworn in as special policemen. 

Citizens are requested to organize a police for each block in the city, and to 
send reports of such organization tothe police headquarters, corner of Union 
and West Madison streets. 

All persons needing food will be relieved by applying at the following 

laces :— ~ 
i At the corner of Ann and Washington; [llinois Central Railroad Round- 
house. 

M.S. R. R.—Twenty-second Street station. 

C. B. & Q R. R—Canal Street Depot. 

St. L. & A. R. R.—Near Sixteenth Street. 

C. & N. W. R. R—Corner of Kinzie and Canal streets. 

All the public school-houses, and at nearly all the churches. 

4. Citizens are requested to avoid passing through the burnt districts until 
the dangerous walls left standing can be leveled. 

5. All saloons are ordered to be closed at 9 p.m. every day for one week, 
under a penalty of forfeiture of license. 

6. The Common Council have this day by ordinance fixed the price of bread 
at eight (8) cents per loaf of twelve ounces, and at the same rate for loaves of a less 
or greater weight, and affixed a penalty of ten dollars for selling, or attempting 
to sell, bread at a greater rate within the next ten days. 

7. Any hackman, expresgman, drayman, or teamster charging more than the 
regular fare, will have his license revoked. 

All citizens are requested ‘to aid in preserving the peace, good order, and 
good name of our city. 

Oct. 10, 1871. R. B. MASON, Mayor. 


In addition to the action of the city authorities, Lieut. General 
P. H. Sheridan, whose military headquarters were here, at the ear- 
nest request of Mr. Mason, the Mayor, and many prominent citizens 
of Chicago, consented to declare martial law for the preservation 
of order throughout the city, as well as to protect from fire what 
remained of it, and on the 11th of October a proclamation was 


The Great Fire of 1871. 695 


issued by him to this effect. Two days previous to this, while 
the fire was still spreading on the North Side, he had ordered a 
company of frontier soldiers from Fort Leavenworth, Kan., to 
be sent by rail to Chicago, and as soon as they arrived they were 
detailed in squads of about twenty each to guard the various 
places along the outer edge of the burnt district that needed pro- 
tection. Throughout the South Division burnt, were many bank 
vaults still buried beneath heated bricks and stone, inan uncertain 
condition. At night the soldiers detailed to guard these were 
quartered on the premises of Messrs. Fuller & J*uller, which had 
been saved from the general wreck as already told. And in con- 
versation with Mr. Fuller, the informant of the writer, as to the 
fidelity with which they executed their trust, the praise which he 
gave these noble soldiers should not be omitted. They were 
strictly temperate, many of them teetotalers, and some of them 
old weather-beaten veterans as noble in sentiment as they were 
brave and faithful, and an honor to the country in whose service 
they had enlisted. The debt of gratitude which Chicago owes 
them challenges this acknowledgement. 

The extent of the fire may be summed up in the following 
statement, which has been carefully taken from various records 
of the event: On the West Side, the burnt district measured 
194 acres, and the number of burnt buildings was about 500, 
most of them being of an interior class. 

In the South Division 460 acres were burned over, on which 
stood 3,650 buildings, which constituted substantially the banks, 
wholesale stores, hotels, and the general heavy business blocks 
of the city included, with many of its first-class private dwell- 
ings, added to which was a district in the southwest portion, 
where many poor people lived. In the North Division 1,470 
acres were burnt over, and 13,300 buildings destroyed, leaving 
but about four per cent of the buildings standing in the entire 
division, and those of the poorest class. The total number of 
acres burnt over was 2,124, and of buildings destroyed about 
17,450. About 100,000 people were rendered homeless, which 
included guests at hotels and boarding-houses. Of these, 
some thousands were gathered in squads on the prairies outside 
the citv on the morning of the 9th, and not a few made the 
earth their bed on the night of the 10th. Every train of rail- 
road cars that left the city for several days was loaded to its ut- 
most with the fugitives. The most of them had no means where- 
with to pay their fare. In such cases, the railroad compAnies, 
with exemplary generosity, carried them free till the Relief and 
Aid Society had organized, to make provision for the sufferers 
On the 10th relief began to come in from the country towns near 
by. Never before had their sympathies been so awakened. 


? 


696 The Great Fire of 1871. 


Mothers, in their imagination, heard little children crying for 
bread on the open prairie, and saw whole families lying on the 
ground, bereft of everything but natural claims on humanity, 
and the next trains that went to the city were loaded with free 
bread, milk, blankets, and such other things as the body stands 
most in need of when stripped of everything but its wants. 

To detail all the means used to relieve the immediate wants of 
the victims would be inconsistent with time, and space to record 
them. It was one of those great waves that roll over mankind, 
burying them so deep beneath its crest as to drown out selfish. 
ness for the time, and open an unfrequented path to many hearts. 
Dormant passions and affections were awakened into being, that 
else might have slumbered and died ere they had blossomed into 
lite and beauty. Like a flash, the cry of distress went through 
the world, and gathered force as it traveled. News of the de- 
struction of armies in one great chasm of death had been told 
before till recitals of such events palled upon the senses; but this 
was a great social disaster, visited upon effeminate or ace and 
beauty, “quick and sudden, dashing ambition to the oround, and 
withering life’s sweetest hopes; sundering the dearest associations 
and robbing the heart of home treasures, so highly prized by the 
most refined people. 

From St. Louis, Cincinnati, Detroit, New York, Boston, and 
nearly all the large cities of the United States, and from many 
cities in England, Germany and France, came prompt relief. 
The most of the cash sent from these places was taken into the 
custody of the Chicago Relief and Aid Society, and by them dis- 
pensed to the sufferers with as provident a care as could have 
been expected under such a pressure. 

The amounts contributed from the world, (the great field of. 
charity for this occasion), was but little short of $3,000,000. The 
number of lives lost in the fire can never be told. It has been 
estimated to exceed 300. The charred remains of many were 
found, but no such number as this. 

The amount of property destroyed in the fire, by a careful es- 
timate by Elias Colbert, was $192,000,000. Not more than one- 
tourth of this was covered by insurance, and of the amounts in- 
sured, not more than fifty per cent was paid, some insurance 
companies not paying more than ten per cent, while others paid 
in full. 

The heads of families and business portion of the hundred 
thousand victims of the fire may be divided into several classes. 
The portion of them whose wealth was in stocks or bonds had 
lost nothing but their ink-stands and writing-desks, and the op- 
portunities now offered for speculation, seemed to give promise 
of an abundant harvest out of the situation. Of the merchants 


The Great Fire of 1871. 697 


who had both capital and credit yet in reserve, to begin anew, a 
prospect opened for business perhaps never before equaled. To 
those merchants who had lost everything, little consolation could 
come, and yet many of these, availing themselves of an untar- 
nished reputation, immediately began again on credit, and not a 
few of them made a success of it. Out of the recoil that came 
from such an overwhelming calamity quickly sprang up a buoy- 
ant feeling in the minds of everyone. No timid counsels pre- 
vailed. Medivivus was the watchword. Dimension stone, brick, 
mortar, lime, marble, red sandstone, granite, cement, iron pillars, 
girders, floor tile, sand, glass, joist, scantling and boards were at 
apremium. Autumn hung on into the winter months, and fire- 
proof buildings sprang up rapidly amidst the desolations of the 
burnt district. Meantime, while these were in course of construe- 
tion, every empty place on the West Side, and far out in the 
South Division, was rented at high figures, and frequently might 
be found the most enterprising merchants doing business in some 
dingy, cavernous quarters on the West Side, that for years before 
the fire had grown moldy for the want of tenants. Jor several 
months, Canal street, between Lake and Madison, was the center 
of business. Here the newspapers set up their presses, and by 
dint of courage and resolution to be found nowhere outside of 
Chicago, soon reproduced their respective sheets, undiminished 
in size and unctious with grit. All the while capital flowed into 
Chicago, and the building mania was at fever heat. Nobody 
seemed to think it could be overdone. ‘They did not stop to con- 
sider that the improved class of buildings which were being sub- 
stituted for the old ones would afford convenience and room for 
a greatly increased amount of business. Add to this the extra 
room for business where private houses had been burnt, close by 
the business portions of Chicago, which would never be replaced, 
on account of their proximity to the turmoil of a commercial 
emporium, and it is not strange that an unnecessarily large area 
was left open for the wants of business. These conditions cansed 
a temporary lull in building up the burnt district after the work 
had been going on two years, for which reason there are still 
(1881) many vacant lots where the moldering walls of old build- 
ings, burnt in the fire, stand as reminders of the event; but no 
great length of time can now transpire till the recent nee 
demand tor more stores and offices, as well as a demand beyon 

the present supply for private dwellings, will not only fill up va- 
cant lots in the burnt district, but enlarge the area of the city, 


698 Land Titles in Cook County, 


LAND TITLES IN COOK COUNTY. 


BY S. B. CHASE. 


Cd 


The destruction by the great Chicago fire in 1871, of the pub- 
lie records of Cook county, gave an unexpected value and pubhie 
importance to all other evidences of titles to real property which 
had been preserved and were accessible. 

The want of the ordinary means of proving ownership of lands 
was especially felt by citizens of Chicago, who, in consequence 
of losing by the fire their homes or sources of income, needed 
money for re- building or to supply their pressing necessities, and 
to obtain it saw no way but to sell or mortgage “their real estate. 
These found that not only the records but also a large part of the 
original muniments of their titles had been destroyed; these 
latter having been quite generally held by attorneys or agents 
who had their offices within the burned’ district—but it was 
also found that several firms engaged in the examination of land 
titles as their exclusive business, had fortunately saved consider- 
ble portions of their memoranda of conveyances, wills, decrees, 
and other matters relating to titles, and that the information 
contained in these would go far towards supplying the requisite 
evidences. 

These private records, or abstract books, as they are usually 
termed, have, since the calamity alluded to, played so important 
a part in the real estate transactions of Chicago, that a brief de- 
scription of their origin and character is not out of place in a 
history of the city. 

The system of private indexes to the public records of convey- 
ances, judgments and tax sales, substantially that now in use in 
hundreds of counties throughout the Northwestern States, was 
about the year 1848 devised by Messrs. James H. Rees and Edward 
A. Rueker, two of those early settlers of Chicago whose enterprise 
and sagacity have done ‘so much towards creating the present 
material prosperity of our city. 

Although Cook county had then but a little over twenty thou- 
sand peop Sle, its population and commerce were growing with 
such rapidity as to promise a brilliant future, and to suggest that 
preparations for the greatness to come could hardly be made. too 
Jarge or broad in any department of business. The wild specu- 
lation of 1837, and consequent revulsion had wrecked a large part 
of those who had to any extent dealt in real estate in and about 
Chicago. Great carelessness had prevailed in forms of convey- 


wv 


Land Titles in Cook County. 699 


nees and in their acknowledgment. Omissions to record were fre- 
quent. ‘Titles were clouded to a considerable extent by judg- 
ments, bankruptcies and tax sales. Publie records and indexes 
thereto were quite defective. Searches of title were, to a greater 
or less extent, unreliable, though made by attorneys of skill and 
ability, because they were without the proper facilities for 
accurate work. The remedy for this condition of things proposed 
and applied by Rees & Rucker, and their successors, will appear 
when we describe a set of abstract books, as devised by them, 
and now in use in this (Cook) county. 

These consist of, first, Books of Original Entries. These are the 
conveyancer’s “ Day Books,” in which he enters descriptions, in 
their most important particulars, of all instruments filed for 
record in the office of the Recorder of Deeds—each instrument 
being described in the order of its filing. Next, we have numer- 
ous volumes, termed “ Indexes,” which are the conveyancers’ 
“Ledgers.” In them he opens a separate account with each 
lot or parcel of land in the county, and in this account enters a 
description of every deed, mortgage or other recorded instrument 
relating to such lot, giving the names of the parties thereto, its 
date of record, and some other particulars. Thirdly, we have 
with appropriate nominal indexes thereto, a set of Judgment 
Dockets, showing in the order in which they were commenced, 
the suits prosecuted in courts of record, with memoranda of 
judgments rendered, executions issued, ete. Fourthly, copies or 
abstracts of all sales made at any time of lands for unpaid taxes 
and assessments. | 

The great value of these books for immediate use, anticipated 
by Messrs. Rees & Itucker, consisted in the indexes; inasmuch 
as these were to exhibit ona single page, all recorded instru- 
ments relating to any title under examination, which, without 
some such expedient, must be found by a long, careful, tiresome 
search of hours, sometimes of days’ duration. It had not how- 
ever escaped their sagacity that a possible loss or destruction, 
total or partial, of public records, might put their books substan- 
tially in the place of them. 

The results of their scheme exceeded their expectations. The de- 
velopment of the Northwestern States, and the growth of its great 
metropolis, far exceeded the wildest dreams of the most enthusi- 
astic. teal estate transfers and the conveyancers’ business kept 
pace with the progress of population and commerce. The au- 
tumn of 1871 found the abstract system somewhat enlarged, 
and in some details modified, but in all its main features as 
originally planned, in successful operation, employing in its 
maintenance and application, several firms with 100 to 150 em- 


700 Land Titles of Cook County. : 


ployes, and with an immense accumulation of material gener- 
ally relied on by real estate lawyers, without search of the rec- 
ords themselves, in judging of the validity of land titles. 

Very much of this material, many valuable volumes of in- 
dexes; thousands of pages of copies of abstracts, great quantities 
of original memoranda, were destroyed in the great conflagration. 
So much however was saved by the three principal abstract es- 
tablishments then in existence, that, with few exceptions, a con- 
nected history from the government down, can still be given of 
every lot in the county, not, it is true, with the particularity and 
fullness in details which could have been obtained from the rec- 
ords, but to such an extent has the reliabilty of the abstract 
books and papers still preserved from the old abstract offices 
been demonstrated by some nine years’ experience, that it is safe 
to say that in none of the great cities of this country are real es- 
tate titles more certain, and less likely to be disturbed, or prop- 
erly exhibited with greater dispatch and at a less expense. 

No doubt the originator of this system, like many of the found- 
ers of Chicago, “builded better than they knew,” but many of 
the results were such as would have resulted without the occur- 
rence of unusual forces. ‘The correct anticipation of these re- 
sults was a most fortunate thing for Chicago, and entitles these 
two gentlemen to much credit for foresight and sagacity. 

Both were, in fact, men of worth and intellect. Mr. Rucker 
was a lawyer by profession, and a man of acute mind. He, how- 
ever, disposed of his interest to Mr. Rees as early as 1850, while 
the system had hardly been perfected or tried. He died several 
years since. Mr. Rees, alone or associated with others, prosecu- 
ted the business till 1862, continuing in it long enough to fix the 
character and assure the success of the enterprise. He was one 
of the old settlers of Chicago—a man of sound judgment and 
unblemished integrity—and although resolute of purpose and 
persistent in any line of conduct he might decide on, had an 
even and amiable temper, that very tenderly endeared to him 
those closely associated in business interests or in the circle of 
family friends. He has very recently passed away, leaving with 
all the many who knew him a memory honored and loved as that 
of anupright and generous man. Probably no act of his long 
and useful business lite has been so fruitful of lasting and bene- 
ficial results to the public as the establishment of the first “ Ab- 
stracts of Title” in [linois. 


Financial History of Lllinois and Chicago. TOL 


FINANCIAL HISTORY OF ILLINOIS AND CHICAGO. 
BY JAMES W. SHEAHAN, OF THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE. 


The State of Illinois was admitted into the Union on the 3d day 
of December, 1818, and during the years that have intervened has 
had a memorable history i in the matter of debt, poverty, bankruptey 
and taxation. Her record in these par ticulars i is, in many respects, 
similar to that of many other States, old and new; but her 
record is unstained by dishonor, is free from all taint of repudi- 
ation, and her present glorious condition of wealth, prosperity 
and high commercial as well as political grandeur is a fitting 
result, of her steadfast devotion to honor and justice in all her 
financial dealings. On the last day of 1880, Lilinois will be free 
from debt of every kind, with a handsome surplus i in the treasury 
and a steady income, which lessens the ordinary burden of main- 
taining one of the best administered and most charitable State 
governments of the Union. 

A brief sketch of the origin, the growth and the great magni- 
tude of her public debt; of the courage and fidelity with which 
her people, rejected under the strong temptations of poverty, des- 
titution, fraud, absolute loss of eredit and the example of other 
States, every suggestion of repudiation; .the steps they took to 
meet that debt ‘by self-imposed taxation, and the final triumph 
of honest purposes, honestly carried into execution, may find a 
fitting place in the history of the great Northwest. 

The new State at the time of its admission contained about 
50,000 inhabitants, the census of June, 1820, showing a popula- 
tion of 55,211,and this whole population resided, with few excep- 
tions, south of a line drawn west from Alton to the Wabash 
River. 

The science of government and the principles of political econ- 
omy were but little studied or known in those days. The inhab- 
itants of Illinois were mainly from the Southern States, and their 
habits, traditions and general opinions were widely different from 
the more advanced systems of the Northern and Eastern States. 
One of the peculiarities of the day, and, until very recently, ad- 
hered to in some of the Southern States, was a resort to public 
lotteries, instead of to taxation, in order to raise money to meet 
public expenditures. When the war with Great Britain closed, 
the population of the territory was small, and money was a rar- 
ity. Peltry found a ready sale, and became a medium of ex- 


702 Financial History of Lllinois and Chicago. 


change; values were computed in deer and coon skins. The leg- 
islature of the territor y were ready converts to the system (w hich « 
still has its advocates) of making money cheap and plenty by the 
mere process of printing. Ohio and Kentucky had met the seare- 
ity of money by char tering a large number of banks; the notes 
of these banks found their way into Illinois. It w as promptly 
discovered and decided that Illinois need be under no obligations 
to these States for currency, so the territorial legislature in 1816 
chartered “ The Bank of Illinois,” located at Shawneetown, on 
the Ohio river, and a year later another bank at Kaskaskia, ‘and 
still another one at Edwardsville. 

These banks were all banks of issue, and their notes were soon 
put in circulation. To give them credit, the legislature of the 
territory was induced to make them substantially a legal tender; 
that is, it enacted laws staying all legal process for the collection 
of debts unless the creditor would receive the notes of these 
banks in satisfaction of the execution; and subsequently this 
law was made to inelude, also, the notes of the banks of Ohio, 
Kentucky, Tennessee and Missouri. Money was thus made plen- 
ty, and it became very cheap, and times were supposed to be 
good. Incidental to this abundance of money, grew the famous 
charter of the city and bank of Cairo, which provided for build- 
ing a magnificent city—the capital to be obtained from the sale 
of lots at $150 each—$50 of which was to be expended in bnild- 
ing the city, and the other $100 was to constitute the capital of 
the bank. ‘That charter was but a reflex of the popular mind un- 
der the excitement and speculative spirit produced by the great 
inflation. 

It required but a brief time for this condition of affairs to 
collapse. ‘ Everybody was inextricably in debt to everybody.” 
(Davidson and Stuve). 

Such was the condition of affairs when, on the first of Janu- 
ary, 1819, the first State government of Illinois was inaugu- 
rated. The currency was “irredeemable: gold and silver there 
was none. The legislature of the new State sought to avert the 
coming crash by chartering a new Bank of Illinois, with a capi- 

tal of two millions of dollars. This bank, however, failed to 
organize. 

‘In 1820, the banks of [linois and those of all the neighbor- 
ing States suspended, many of them were bankrupt, and the 
brief holiday of inflation was succeeded by the gloom of fi- 
nancial ruin. The legislature of 1820, 21 met the difficulty 
by chartering “The Ilinois State Bank, * based wholly on the 
credit of the State. The parent bank was located at Vandalia, 
with branches at Edwardsville, Brownsville, Shawneetown, and 


Financial History of Illinois and Chicago. 703 


one in Edwards county. The notes were to be loaned to the peo- 
ple in sums of $100, on personal security: and all sums over 
$100, and not exceeding $1,000, to any one borrower, on real es- 
tate of double the value of the loan. The bank notes bore in- 
terest at two per cent., and were made legal tender to the extent 
that executions for debts were stayed, unless endorsed, payable 
in bills of the bank. $300,000 of these notes were ordered to 
be issued directly, and that sum was soon issued. The notes at 
once depreciated, and as the State revenue was paid in this money, 
the operations of the government were clogged. The notes were 
payable ten years after date. In 1831, the State borrowed $100,- 
000 of Col. Thomas Wiggins, and with the money redeemed the 
notes and wound up the bank. Directly and indirectly, it is esti- 
mated that the State lost $500,000 by this abortive scheme of 
banking.* : 

This was in 1831, and the date is significant, as showing the 
fleeting effect of even the most costly experience. 

In January, 1835, just four years after the collapse and wind- 
ing up of the “Illinois State Bank,” at such heavy cost, the leg- 
islature again ventured upon the experiment of banking without 
capital, and making money cheap and plenty by the mere issue 
of promises to pay. Severely as the State and the people liad al- 
ready suffered by this delusion, the most costly of all its ven- 
tures was now authorized. 

A new State Bank was chartered, with a capital of $1,500,000, 
and the right to increase that capital $1,000,000 more. Six 
branches were authorized. The State was to take $100,000 of the 
stock, and the remaining $1,400,000 were to be subscribed by 
individuals. The subscriptions to the stock far exceeded the 
amount authorized, and after the awards, the stock commanded 
13 per centum premium. The note circulation was not to ex- 
ceed two and a half times the sum of the paid up stock. 

The city of Alton at that time aspired to be the controlling 
center of Western trade. Lead from the Galena mines was then 
an important article of trade. The merchants of Alton held 
large interests in the bank, and by the aid of loans, undertook 
to purchase all the lead offered for sale—to corner the entire pro- 
duction. The competition raised the price of lead enormously, 
the faney prices attracted all the metal to Alton, but it could not 
be sold. Other merchants, by the aid of the bank, engaged in 
like speculations in produce; all proved disastrous. ‘ It was 
estimated,” say Davidson and Stuve, “that the bank lost by the 
* Alton operations $1,000,000; but these reverses were not gener- 


*Davidson and Stuve, History of Illinois 


T04 Financial History of Illinois and Chicago. 


ally known.” So prosperous was the new bank, that a year 
after its charter, the legislature was convened in December— 
January, 1835-6, in specialsession. The governor recommended 
that the State subscribe to the extra million of dollars of bank 
stock; he represented that the stock was then at 113 and would 
rise to 1380, and the State would realize $300,000 in premiums. 
The legislature was not then as advanced as the governor; it 
however, authorized the sale of the $100,000 of stock held by the 
State. 

What the legislature of 1836 hesitated to do, the legislature of 
1837 was prepared to do on a much magnified scale. It added 
$2,000,000 to the capital stock of the bank, the whole increase to 
be taken by the State. 

The old, defunct, suspended “Bank of Illinois,” established 
at Shawneetown, in territorial days, was revived with its capital 
stock increased to $1,700,000, of which $1,000,000 was taken by 
the State. These banks were made depositories of all the State 
funds, and for the procceds of all State Internal Improvement 
bonds. This legislation was in January,1837, and the banks had 
about fairly got in operation when the panic of 1837 occurred. 
In May the banks suspended specie payments, a special session of 
the legislature met in July, and the suspension of the banks was 
legalized. Subsequent legislatures renewed the legalization of 
the suspension, and the State bank dragged along its paper at a 
large discount, until, “In February, 1842, the monster institu- 
tion, with a circulation exceeding $3,000,000, snapped its thread 
of life and passed into dissolution, spreading devastation upon 
every hand, far and wide.” (Davidson & Stuve p. 424.) 

The State Bank, and the Bank of Illinois, at Shawneetown, 
were wound up by an act of the legislature January 24, 1848. 
Of the terms of the settlement we will have something to say 
hereatter. 

The refusal of President Jackson to approve the re-chartering 
of the Bank of the United States, though perhaps dictated by the 
highest purposes and sound policy, produced consequences which 
the great President hardly anticipated, and even before the date 
prescribed by law for the expiration of the charter of the great 
bank, there had already begun an inflation of paper money, un- 
der the inspiration of which the country was then rushing to 
financial disaster and bankruptcy. The crushing of the one 
“monster” was followed by the birth of hundreds. We have al- 
ready told the history, as briefly as possible, of the several 
schemes of banking projected in the State of Illinois, and of their 
lamentable and costly termination. 

The antagonism of the national government towards the Na- 


Linancial History of Lllinois and Chicago. 705 


tional Bank, particularly when shown by the withdrawal of the 
public deposits from that institution, necessitated the adoption 
of some other policy. The sub-treasury system had not then 
been devised; the use of banks was a natural continuation of the 
old system, modified by the extinction of the great national ‘“ reg- 
ulator.” The government deposits were then transferred to State: 
banks, those selected being popularly called the “net banks.” So: 
soon as the fate of the United States Bank had been definitely 
determined, there was a strong demand for State banks, and these: 
issuing money in great abundance, led to that inflation out of | 
which grew an era of wide-spread speculation, and a rivalry be- 
tween sections and States, for improvements in the way of rail- 
roads and canals. 

It was under the fever of this great internal improvement de- 
mand, that the State of Illinois, at the sessions of 1835 and 1836, 
overlooked or put out of sight the history of the previous costly 
experiments of banking, and again chartered banks on a more: 
magnificent scale, to the extent and at the cost already stated. It 
eannot be denied that this revival of charters for banks in which 
the State was to be a partner, was due to the popular demand for 
works of public improvement. The means for this purpose could 
only be obtained through the agency of banks; the banks were: 
State agents, and were to be sustained by the credit and resources 
of the State, and were expected to furnish all the bank paper 
needed to float the credit of the State. The laws were ample for 
this purpose, so far as this could be accomplished by statute, but 
no legislation has yet been framed which can compel public con- 
fidence nor sustain credit where there are no substantial and 
available means. So, the legisiature having provided the bank 
in 1835, and that bank having during that time of universal spec- 
ulation been eminently successful, the legislature of 1836 en- 
larged the banking system, that the State might engage in the 
great system of railway and other improvements, which was to 
construct a highway to market from every quarter-section farm 
in the State. | 

At the election in 1834, Joseph Duncan was elected governor 
of Illinois. He was then, and had been, a successful member of 
Congress. He was personally opposed to the anti-bank policy of 
President Jackson, but this was not generally known until after the 
election. He was inaugurated in December of that year, and in 
his address boldly denounced the policy of the President. He 
was elected as a Democrat, and sought to capture the popular 
sentiment by strongly recommending the construction of State 
roads, cordially approving the project of the Illinois and Michi 
gan Canal, and urging liberal charters for railways. He of course 


45 


706 Financitl Listory of Lllinois and Chicago. 


proposed banks, and the legislation of 1834-5 was substantially 
that suggested by him. So successful were the banks then ere- 
ated, th rat a toe session of the legislature was held in the win- 
ter of 1835 6, and the banks were enlarged. Speculation had 
become wild in the extreme. 

Chicago was then in her infancy, but real estate in that city 
reached prices which it never permanently commanded for forty 
years later. The immigration to the State was, in those days great. 
In 1836, public lands: to the value of $5,000,000 were entered 
in Iinois. Speculation was however rife in all the infant cities 
and towns. Lots in Chicago and in the hundreds of other Illi- 
nois cities and towns, were purchased, unsight and unseen, by spec- 
ulators at the East, just as mining property in the mountains of Col- 
orado and Wyoming i is NOW bought. Governor Ford, in his history 
mentions the statement that the staple articles of Illinois export 
were town plats, and that there was danger of crowding the State 
with towns to the exclusion of land for ‘agriculture. Under the 
excitement of this craze a new legislature was elected in August, 
1836. The subject of internal improvements was the all absorb- 
ing issue; it was considered that all that was necessary to build 
up these tow ns, and populate the State was the construction of 
railways. Simultaneously with the meeting of the legislature, 
a monster convention was held at the seat of covernment, to 
promote this grand scheme. The scheme itself was, to a great 
extent indefinite, but its advocates insisted that it should be 
comprehensive enough to meet the wants of every locality. we 
legislature was overwhelmed by an outside pressure, which it wa 
unable, even if disposed, to resist. 

On the 27th of February, 1837, the legislature passed the “act 
to establish and maintain a general system of internal improve- 


ments.” This act authorized and directed the expenditure of 


various sums for the purposes and objects stated. We include in 
this list the additions made thereto by subsequent legislation : 


Improvement of Great Wabash River.............cscccesecnccces $100,000 
Hinois ARIVer. 124 seek ce chee ale ote tele ee Rane Cee 100,000. 
Trocky Reversi YE od He Bie Ley a ak © SL ett bea eins > nee a eet eee 100,000 
Kaskaskia River ist 2 wee.) aeiobios ae dbp ide Deer ciccieah tas ok Reena 50.000 
Little . Wabash: Biven. cc ve eee eb e > beens tes ce so cle nae 50,000 
<treat Western Mail Route from St. Louis to Vincennes............ 250,000 
Central Railroad, from Cairo to the [linois and Michigan Canal... } 

Southern Railroad, from Alton to Mt. Carmel................66- - 1,600,000 
Railroad. from Alton te (Shawneetown sus cee. .ss sc aed ceteca ee 

Northern Cross Railroad, from Quincy to Indiana State Line........ 1,800,000 
Branch of Central Hillsboro to’ Terre ‘Haute: eee ae eee eee 650,000 
Railroad, from Peoria via Mt. Carmel and Carthage to Warsaw.... 700,000 


Railroad, from Alton to Hillsboro to the Central Railroad.......... 600,000 


Financial History of Lllinois and Chicago. 107 


Railroad, from Belleville via Lebanon to intersect Southern Cross 


B. Fuse iwaye vist) Soe We PF ad et ee @ sie e's Maltgabmpiads Res 150,000 
Railroad, from Bloomington, to Mackinaw, in Tazewell County, thence 
Wr Gites ace as aedsle cute: eee Ue a Re are a ohate eheneen abele fd ra He aie 390,000 


Also, an appropriation of $250,000 out of the first proceeds of 
the internal improvement bonds, to be distributed per capita of 
the population, to those counties in which no railroad was 
directed to be constructed, and in which no navigable stream 
was to be improved. ‘This money was to be expended in making 
roads and bridges. 

Two isonndee? were of course organized to operate the ma- 
ee of this system. One wasa Board of “ Fund Commission- 

s,” to manage the financial part; the other was a Board of ‘Com- 
missioners of Public Works.” This latter Board had juris- 
diction over all the public works, except the canal. The law re- 
quired that portion of the Northern Cross Railroad between 
Springfield and Jacksonville to be built immediately. But ail 
the other roads were required to be begun at each end, and, at 
important towns on the line, the work to progress in both direc- 
tions from every point at which it was begun. The jealousy 
which inspired such legislation as that, was characteristi¢ of that 
time. No locality was willing that another should have even a 
day in advance in the march to unlimited prosperity. 

The construction of the vanal had, up to this time, been car- 
ried on by the proceeds of the sale of lands and of lots in Chicago 
and other towns along the line of the canal. In order to obtain 
votes for the internal improvement system, the legislature in- 
eluded in this act of 1837, an authority to make a “Joan for the 
sum of $500,000 for the canal, and thereafter that work became 
part of the system. 

The act of 1837 authorized an expenditure of $10,230,000. <At 
the legislature of 1839, additional expenditures were authorized 
directly, to the amount of $1,000,000, including two new short 
railways; and it also included ‘indirectly and prospectively, anew 
railway aa Alton to Carlinville, and ‘additional river improve- 
ments. ‘he crowning act was an authority to negotiate a loan 
of $4,000,000, to continue the work on the canal. 

Connected with the legislation on this subject was that of the 
removal of the seat of the State government. When it was re- 
moved from IXaskaskia, the location at Vandalia was limited to 
twenty years. Alton had the promise for the future; but Alton 
had become, in its own expectation, the future commercial metrop- 
olis of the Mississippi Valley, and in consideration of being 


made the terminus of three railways, renounced the claim to be 


the State Capital. Springfield was the aspirant. Sangamon 
County was a large one, and had nine members of the ceneral 


T08 Financial History of Illinois and Chicago. 


assembly, two senators, and seven representatives. These nine 
votes were of consequence in the passage or defeat of the Inter- 
nal Improvement measure. They were primarily for the removal 
of the seat of government to Springfield, and when the building 
of a State Capitol at Springfield was included in the scheme, the 
nine votes of Sangamon voted for the enormous job. Governor 
Ford, in his history, thus sums up this part of the story: 

‘“ Amongst them were some dexterous jugglers and managers 
in politics, whose whole object was to obtain the seat of govern- 
ment for Springfield. This delegation, from the beginning of 
the session, threw itself as a unit in support of, or opposition to, 
every local measure of interest, but never without a bargain for - 
votes in return on the seat of government question. Most of the 
other counties were small, having but one representative, and 
many of thém with but one for the whole district; and this gave 
Sangamon County a decided preponderance in the log-rolling 
system of those days. It is worthy of examination whether any 
just and equal legislation can ever be sustained, where some of the 
counties are great and powerful and others feeble. But by such 
means ‘the long nine’ rolled along like a snow ball, gathering ac- 
cessions of strength at every turn, until they swelled up a consid- 
erable party for Springfield, which party they managed to make 
almost as a unit in favor of the internal improvement system, in 
return for which the active supporters were to vote for Spring- 
field to be the seat of government. Thus it was made to cost the 
State about $6,000,000 toremove the system of that seat of 
government from Vandalia to Springfield, half of which sum 
would have purchased all the real] estate in that town at three 
prices; and thus, by log-rolling on the canal measure, by multi- 
plying railroads, by terminating three railroads at Alton, that 
Alton might become a great city in opposition to St. Louis, by 
distributing money to some of the counties to be wasted by the 
county commissioners, and by giving the seat of government to 
Springfield, was the whole State bought up and bribed, to ap- 
prove the most senseless and disastrous policy which ever crip- 
ples the energies of a growing country.” 

We forbear even a sketch of the financial transactions. The 
banks negotiated some of the bonds, and all the banks of the 
country having suspended in 1837, money, such as it was, was 
easy. The canal loan was sent to Europe, and the negotiations 
there and at ome were of the most remarkable character. The 
bonds were forever depreciating, and the proceeds of the loans 
disclosed cruel losses and much irregularity. At last Governor 
Carlin called a special session of the legislature, to meet Decem- 
ber 9, 1839. He who, a year before remonstrated against any 


Financial History of Illinois and Chicago. 709 


abandonment of the scheme, now confessed its failure. He 
reached the conclusion that if the State went on with the work 
already begun, it would find itself in debt at least $21,000,000; 
it already owed about $14,000,000; its annual revenue was not 
over $200,000; its annual char ge for interest was $800,000; and 
the population of the State was not exceeding half amillion. Not 
a mile of railroad had been completed, and the Governor stated 
the assets of the State to be 430,000 acres of land, and 3,491 lots 
in the towns along the canal, and some railroad iron in New 
York subject to the payment of duties! This was the end of the 
system of nearly 1400 miles of railway, and a canal 100 miles 
long, and vast river improvements. 

In 1838 some eight miles of track from Meredosia, were laid; 
subsequently, at a cost of $1,000,000, this track was extended to 
Springfield, and was sold by the State for $100,000, payable in 
State indebtedness. That was the total outcome of the whole 
mammoth scheme. At that session of the legislature, in the 
month of Feb., 1840, the legislature abolished its various Boards, 
prohibited any further sale of bonds, or expenditures, discharged 
its force of engineers and other officers, and provided for wind- 
ing up the whole business. The work on the eanal was not then 
arrested—its life was protracted alittle longer. This was the sit- 
uation of affairs when the legislature adjourned in the spring of 
1840. The payment of interest for 1841 on the canal:loan was 
accomplished, but it was not possible to meet that on ‘the other 
parts of the debt. ‘The legislature that met in December, 1840, 
authorized the hypotheeation of a sufficient number of the inter- 
nal improvement bonds to pay the interest which would “ legal- 
ly” fall due in 1841. The reason for the use of this term “ le- 
gally” was to meet the objection already raised that some of the 
bonds of the State had been negotiated foutside of the require- 
ments of the law, and were therefore no longer a legal charge 
upon the State. A law was also passed authorizing the State to 
sell State interest bonds—to be sold in the market for what could 
be got for them. By these expedients the State was able to pay 
the January and July interest of 1841; that was the last pay- 
ment that was made—no further efforts seem to have been made 
to that end. In February, 1842, as has already been stated, the 
State banks went down to rise no more, and were put into liqui- 
dation. ‘The State bonds were quoted as low as fourteen cents. 
Davison and Stuve in their history say, page 452: 

“The condition of this fair State, with her calamities thus aug- 
mented, was truly distressing. Abroad, her name was freely as- 
sociated with dishonor; emigrants, dreading high taxation, gave 
it a wide berth, unless ‘it was those, who havi ing no character of 


710 Financial History of Lllinois and Chicago. 


their own, cared little for that of the State of their adoption; while 
the people here with rare exceptions, were anxious to sell out and 
flee a country which presented no alternative but dishonor or exor- 
bitant taxation. The chances to sell were, however, in adverse 

ratio to the desire, and while impending financial ruin, disgrace, 
and the fear of taxation kept the State from gaining population as 

rapidly as had been her wont; the inprac tieability ot effecting 
sales saved her against loss. In the meantime, an utter dearth 
and stagnation in all kinds of business prevailed.” 

Governor Ford thus describes the condition of affairs at this 

time in Llinois: 


‘* No further attempt was made after July, 1841, to pay interest on the public 
debt. For want of full knowledge of her condition abroad, and of the condi- 
tion of other new states, in a short time Ilhnois, and some others in the West, 
became a stench in the nostrils of the civilized world. The people at home be- 
gan to wake up in terror; the people abroad, who wished to settle in a new 
country, avoided Ilinois as they would pestilence and famine; and there was 
great danger that the future immigrants would be men who, having no regard 
for their own characters, would also have none for that of the State where they 
might live. The terrors of high taxation were before all eyes, both at home and 
abroad. Every one at home wanted to sell his property and move away, and but 
few, either at home or abroad, wanted to purchase. ‘The impossibility of selling 
kept us from losing population, and the fear of disgrace, or high taxes, pre- 
vented us from gaining materially.” 


In 1824 the affairs of the infant State of Illinois were Reich: 
to a crisis of the most terrible character. It was then proposed 
to make African Slavery an institution of the State. At that 
moment, when the dark shadow of the national curse thus threat- 
ened this broad State, there was, seemingly by the hand of a spe- 
cial Providence, a man raised up to meet the calamity at the 
threshold, and to resist it so bravely and so successfully, that it 
was not only kept beyond the limits of the State, but its intro- 
duction here was forever thereafter prohibited. That man was 
Edward Coles, the second Governor of Illinois. His name will 
live in honor while that of Illinois is remembered, and so long 

as human liberty has an advocate on earth. 

In 1842 Illinois was in the dust. Her treasury was empty— 
her credit destroyed. Her name was a world-wide reproach. She 
was bankrupt—hopelessly. She knew not what to do. She was 
overwhelmed in debt, and had no property. Her people were in 
debt far beyond their means of payment. Her statesmen were 
weak and cowardly. They had involved the State in all her 
trouble, and had not the courage to take the consequences. It 
only needed a demagogue bold enough to avow the purpose, and 
dishonor and shame would have completed the dire misfortune. 
Again the hand of Providence seemed to have been especially 
interposed to save the State. Another candidate having been 


Lrinancial History of Lllinois and Chicago. reul 


nominated, death intervened and removed him before the election, 
and the man needed by the State to meet the pending calamity 
was selected unexpectedly, and was made Governor in December, 
1842. That man was Thomas Ford—a name which, because of 
his own great merits of integrity and ability, is forever entitled 
to distinction and credit, but which is entitled to grateful remem- 
brance because of his heroic and inflexible purity and the firmness 
by which he rescued Illinois from the peril into which she had 
fallen, and in which she was overwhelmed in despair. No braver, 
truer, nobler man ever served the State; no brighter record tells 
the public deeds of even the oreatest of her sons. Governor 
Ford, in his own history of the State, thus describes the condition 
of affairs when he entered the office of Governor: 


‘There was no party in the legislature of 1842-3 in favor of an immediate in- 
erease of taxation to pay interest on the public debt. Many there were who 
wanted to do nothing for five or ten years; and to trust to luck and accident for 
the means of improvement. ‘There were a very few who were in favor of repu- 
diating the whole debt of the State, who denied the power of the legislature to 
bind the people by contracting it, and who were in favor of giving up to the 
public creditor all the property purchased with the borrowed money, and ali the 
public works constructed by it, as all that ever could or ought to be done in the 

way of payment. But the ereat majority of the legislature held different opin- 
ions. Resoiutions were passed which clearly stated the inability of the State to 
meet its engagements, and fully recognized our moral and legal obligations te 
provide for ultimate payment. The pay immediately was out of the question. 
Heavy taxation then would have depopulated the country, and the debt would 
never be paid.”’ 


He further says: 


‘“The people of Bond County, as soon as the internal improvement system 
passed, had declared in a public meeting that the system must lead to taxation 
and utter ruin; that the people were not bound to pay any of the debt contracted 
for it; and that Bond County would never assist in paying a cent of it. Accord- 
ingly, they refused to pay taxes for several years. When the system went down 
and left the State in the ruinous condition predicted by the Bond County meeting, 
many people remembered that there might be a question raised as to the obliga- 
tion of payment. Public men everywhere, of all parties, stood in awe of this 
question; there was a kind of general silence as to what would be popular or 
unpopular. The two great political parties were watching each other with eagle 
eyes, to see that no one should get the advantage of the other. The whigs, 
driven to desperation by repeated ill-success in elections, were many of them in 
favor of repudiation, asa means of bettering their party. Very many democrats 
were in favor of the same course, for fear of losing the power the democratic party 
already possessed. It was thought to be a very dangerous subject to meddle 
with. Ata democratic convention which nominated Mr. Snyder for governor, a 
resolution against repudiation offered by Mr. Arnold, of Chicago, was laid on the 
table by an overwhelming vote of the convention, so as not to cominit the party 
one way or the other. It was evident that this was to be a troublesome question, 
and a great many of the politicians on both sides were as ready to take one side 
of it as the other, and their choice depended upon which might finally appear to 
be the most powerful. The whigs were afraid if they advocated the debt-paying 
policy, the democrats would take the other side and leave the whigs no chance 
of ever coming into a majority; and the democrats were afraid if they advocated 


712 Linancial History of Illinois and Chicago. 


a correct policy, the other side might be more popular, and might be taken by 
the whigs. I speak only of the leaders of parties; amongst whom on all sides 
there was a strong suspicion that repudiation might be more popular that tax- 
ation.”’ 

And he thus states his conviction of what then might have 
been done: 


‘Tt is my solemn belief that when I came into office, I had the power to 
make Jllinois a repudiating State. It is true, I was not the leader of any party; 
but my position as governor would have given me leadership enough to have car- 
ried the democratic party, except in a few counties in the north, in favor of repu- 
diation. If I had merely stood still and done nothing, the result would have 
been the same. In that case, a majority of both parties would have led to either 
active or passive repudiation. ‘The politicians on neither side, without a bold 
lead to the contrary, by some high in office, would never have dared to risk their 
popularity by being the first to advocate an increase of taxes to be paid by a tax- 
hating people.” 


The governor was a practical man, and an honest man, and 
one more intent upon accomplishing the public interests than 
upon glorifying himself. We have already stated that he 
obtained the legislation by which he was able to close out the 
indebtedness of the State to the banks. The legislature was 
induced by him to settle with the banks, whereby those institu- 
tions surrendered state bonds held by them as collateral for the 
capital stock of the banks, subscribed for by the State. Subse- 
quently, and after long and laborious negotiation, the foreign 
holders of the canal debt were induced to make a further loan 
of $1,600,000 to complete the canal, the property to be conveyed to 
trustees, and held by them until the canal debt and interest was 
paid. ‘Though the canal debt was not paid, nor the State dis- 
charged from it, that debt was placed in a condition that it 
would be eventually paid out of the earnings of the work itself. 
By the bank settlements, the State was released of $3,000,000 of 
debt, and from the immediate pressure of the canal debt, amount- 
ing with deferred interest, to more than $4,000,000. The governor 
liad fought and beaten down the spirit of repudiation. During 
these very days of trial and struggle, the State was visited with a 
succession of storms and floods, carrying off the crops, and reduc- 
ing the people in several sections to actual want. 

But this was only temporarily bridging over an extremity. 
Some-thing more, and of a permanent character, was required. 
A delay in the canal negotiation, postponed for a season, other 
measures were proposed by this fearless and faithful public officer. 
He proposed, but it was not until a later date, that he obtained the 
legislation imposing a direct tax of one and one-half mills, to 
pay interest on the debt of the State. This, be it remembered, 
was enacted at a time when, for two successive seasons, there had 


Financial History of Lllinois and Chicago. 713 


been a failure of crops, a devastation by floods, and an unprece- 
dented visitation of malarial fevers and other diseases. Under 
the firm hand of the inflexible governor, the State levied this 
direct tax to pay interest on the debt—a debt which had lett 
nothing substantial to represent it. It was some time before the 
machinery for reconstructing the credit of the State could be put 
in motion. The proceeds of this 14 mill tax, levied by the act 
of 1845, were to be applied to the payment of interest on all the 
bonds of the State, including the canal bonds; as the interest on 
the latter consumed nearly one-half the proceeds of the tax, there 
was, even after the tax began to be collected, a large and annual 
deficiency of interest which continued to be added to the long 
account of unpaid interest. At the time of the suspension of 
interest in 1841, the annual charge for interest was $830,000. 
This was reduced somewhat by the settlement with the banks, 
but it was still, for that day, an immense charge. | 

The great victory, however, was won when the State resolved 
to pay the debt and interest, and levied the first tax therefor. 
After that it was a mere question of time. The moral victory 
was already accomplished. The people, under the guidance of 
honest Thomas Ford, their governor, had triumphed over every 
temptation to be false to the State, to their honor and to their 
creditors. Governor Ford thus recapitulates the condition of 
affairs as he found them on entering office in December, 1842, 
and when he left office in 1846: 


‘*TIn the conclusion of this history, the author must be permitted to indulge in 
a slight retrospection of the past. In 1842, when he came into office, the State 
was in debt about $14,000,000 for moneys wasted upon internal improvements, 
and in banking; the domestic treasury of the State was in arrear $313,000 for 
the ordinary expenses of government; auditors’ warrants were freely selling at 
a discount of fifty per cent.; the people were unable to pay even moderate taxes 
to replenish the treasury, in which not one cent was contained, even to pay post- 
age on letters to and from the public offices; the great canal, after spending five 
millions of dollars on it, was about to be abandoned;.the banks, upon which the 
people had relied for a currency, had become insolvent, their paper had fallen so 
low as to cease to circulate as money, and as yet no other money had taken its 
place, leaving the people wholly destitute of a circulating medium, and univer- 
sally in debt; immigration to the State had almost ceased; real estate was wholly 
unsaleable; the people abroad, terrified by the prospect of high taxation, refused 
to come among us for settlement, and our own people at home were no less 
alarmed and terrified at the magnitude of our debt, then apparently so much ex- 
ceeding any known resources of the country. Many were driven to absolute 
despair of ever paying a cent of it; and it would have required but little coun- 
tenance and encouragement in the then disheartened and wavering condition of 
the public mind to have plunged the State into the one terrible infamy of open 
repudiation. This is byno means an exaggerated picture of our affairs in 1842. 

‘*In December, 1846, when the author went out of office, the domestic debt of 
the treasury, instead of being $313,000, was only $31,000, with $9,000 in the 
treasury; auditors’ warrants were at par, or very nearly so; the banks had been 
put into liquidation in a manner just to all parties, and so as to maintain the 


714 Financial Tistory of Illinois and Chicago. 


character of the State for moderation and integrity; violent counsels were reject- 
ed; the notes of the banks had entirely disappeared, and had been replaced in 
circulation by a reasonable abundance of gold and silver coin, and the notes of 
solvent banks of other states; the people had very generally paid their private 
debts; a very considerable portion of the State debt had been paid also; about 
three millions of dollars had been paid by a sale of the public property, and by 
- putting the banks into liquidation; and a sum of five millions more had been 
provided for, to be paid after the completion of the canal; being a reduction of 
eight millions of the State debt which had been paid, redeemed, or provided for, 
whilst the author was in office. 

‘‘The State itself, although broken, and at one time discredited, and a by- 
word throughout the civilized world, had, to the astonishment of every one, been 
able to borrow on the credit of its property, the further sum of $1,600,000 to 
finish the canal; and that great work is now (1847) in a fair way of completion. 
The people abroad have once more begun to seek this goodly land for their 
future homes. From 1843 until 1846, our population rapidly increased, and is 
now (1847) increasing faster than ever it did before. Our own people have be- 
come contented and happy, and the former discredit resting upon them abroad 
for supposed willful delinquency in paying the State debt, no longer exists.’ 


In 1846 the people, by popular vote, elected a State Convention 
to remodel the Constitution. This body met in 1847. The 
constitution then formed was ratified by the people in March, 
1848. Our interest in this Constitution is merely to show that 
a proposition to place in the constitution an irrepealable section 
imposing a tax to pay the State debt, was voted down. Dema- 
gogues and cowards affected to doubt the people’s honesty. That 
section was, however, submitted as an article of the constitution, 
to be voted upon separ ately by the people, so that its defeat 
would not carry with it the defeat of the whole constitution. 
‘Lhe vote on this section, imposing a permanent tax of two mills 
on the dollar, on all the taxable property of the State, to be 
appled to the payment of the principal of the State debt other 
than the canal debt, was ratified by the people, they voting 
directly upon the merits of the proposition. 

The State had now made provision as follows: 
1. An annual tax to pay the interest on all the public debt. 

2. An annual tax to pay the principal of the State debt other 
than the canal debt. 

3. A setting apart of the earnings of the canal to pay that 
debt. i 

Then, in 1850, was the contract with the Illinois Central Rail- 
road, by which, in lieu of other taxes, the Illinois Central Railroad 
Company agreed to pay into the State treasury a sum equal to 
seven per cent. of its gross earnings. The State had thus made 
ample provision for the payment of its debts. In 1847 the State 
provided for funding the principal of all its debts, except the ca- 
nal debt, and in 1857 provided for funding all the arrearages of 
interest on all its debts, issuing bonds therefor, thus paying in- 
terest on the interest which had fallen in arrear during the years 
of helplessness. 


> 


Financial History of Ltlinois and Chicago. 715 


It is not the purpose of this paper to relate the detailed histo- 
ry of the debt. 

Notwithstanding the payments and reductions made in the 
twelve years, from 1841 to 1858, such had been the accumulations 
of unpaid interest, that on the first of January, 1853, the princi- 
pal and overdue interest still unpaid amounted to $17, 398,985. 
Under the act of 1857, the arrearages of interest accrued and 
then unpaid were funded to the amount of $2,973,029. 

Irom the date of the act of 1845,imposing a tax to pay inter- 
est on the debt, down to Nov. 30, 1860, the direct taxes collected 
from the people of Hlinois and paid on account of principal and 
iuterest of their public debt, was as follows: 


RECEIVED AND DISBURSED 


1146 MILL INTEREST TAX. 2 MILL TAX, PRINCIP AL. 

To November 30, 1846.... $ 62,024 To November 80, 1850.... $165,789 
ERAN TO 1 BAB So kit see 2 234,944 TOUT GOR La UNC A Me earcteis ¢ "492,167 
borden Pagel to 0 Ban Ale geen eee 296,827 ES52 TOs leo endear ee. oss 711,221 
TOPO TOLLOUG ites: wuss eee 366,394 LSHAIO VE Ot anes ce oe 1,113,418 
1 ch ag fon) Rolly GU” hacia a ae 528,258 1Sob te Lec hee ar eg eok. 1,887,554 
OTLB SG ec kas 966,420 Lei ORL SOO e, feieesfea ciate 1,192,010 
PEOOTO EG. aes a st ae 1,047,884 —-——- 
ROU UOLLOGU Cyc. seas ak 949,082 LOCALS sae c a neces el $5,052,153 

Mahe ete tt $4,451,933 | Grand Total.......-. $9,503,486 


With these and other payments, the State debt, November 30, 
1860, still remaining unpaid, was $10,346,017. 

The Legislature of. Illinois anthorized the city of Chicago to 
make certain expenditures for the purpose of deepening : and oth- 
erwise improving the Illinois & Michigan Canal. This act gave 
the city a lien on the canal for the amount not exceeding $2,800,000 
to be refunded at the pleasure of the State, from the earnings of the 
canal. The great fire in Chicago took place i in October, 187 71, and 
the Legislature, at a special session, assumed this expenditure, 
and bonds to that amount were issued to the city in satisfaction of 
the lien. In this way $2,800,000 more was added to the cost 
of the canal, and the bonds issued for that purpose were added 
to the debt of the State then unpaid. 

The debt of Illinois has been comparatively a light burden 
since 1860. Up to that time thetax had been a grievous one. 
A half million of people in 1845 bravely began to tax themselves 
to pay interest on a debt, which then, with accumulated interest, 
was nearly $18,000,000. Three years ‘later they adopted a perma- 
nent tax, to pay the principal of that debt. The great recovery 
which followed the adoption of these measures, soon enabled the 
State not only to meet its current liabilities for interest, but also 


716 Grade of Chicago Streets. 


to begin the payment of the principal and, funding the long over 
due interest, to begin the reduction. In addition to this, the 
State in 1856 began to receive an increasing income from the 
Illinois Central Railroad Company. In 1870 the two mill tax 
was discontinued, being no longer needed; the interest fund tax was 
reduced to a nominal sum. The whole tax for ten years on ac- 
count of the public debt has been nominal, or wholly omitted, 
and the State treasury has during that time been always in ad- 
vance of the maturity of the outstanding bonds, which the credit- 
ors preferred to hold, than to surrender. 

And now, on the first day of January 1881, the last outstand- 
ing piece of scrip, warrant, voucher, coupon and bond of the State 
of Illinois ,has become due, and has been paid, and the heroie 
work begun in January, 1842, has been completed, and Illinois 
has been delivered from her bonds, has been emancipated from 
the chains in which Governor Ford found her, and is FREE rroM 
DEBT, 


GRADE OF CHICAGO STREETS. | 


The first houses erected in Chicago were built on spiles set into 
the ground, sufficiently elevated to fix the lower floor above the 
possibility of being flooded by excessive rains. Of course cellars 
or basement kitchens were not to be thought of. Later, when a 
better class of buildings were erected as business blocks, private 
grading up the streets in front of them began to be practiced, 
some of which grading may have been done by a street tax an- 
thorized by the corporation, but the first street grade was not es- 
tablished till 1855, as appears from the following letter from Mr. 
Moody, Ass’t City Clerk. 


; R. BLANCHARD, 
Wheaton, Ill., 

DEAR Sir: [have looked up the question of grades of the city, as you requested. 
I find the first ordinance was passed in March, 1855. Thisestablished the grade 
of Lake street at about 8.62. The present grade of the street is 14 feet. My 
figures refer to the plane of low water of the Chicago river in 1847 as fixed by 
the canal commissioners, and mean 8.62 feet and 14 feet above that level. I find 
several other streets where the change is about the same. On the West Side 
the change is not so great, being originally estab ished ata higher point. I 
estimate the change at about three feet. 

Yours truly, 
Joun A. Moupy. 


The grade of the whole city is now sufficiently above high water 
to admit of convenient basements, and is doubtless established 
on a permanent basis, never again to be changed. 


The Catholic Church in Chicago. 71 


= 


THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN CHICAGO. 
BY WILLIAM J. ONAHAN. 


The history of the Catholic Church, in Chicago, dates from 
1674. 

The first chapter begins with Mather Marquette. 

The narrative of Father Marquette’s memorable explorations 
formed the necessary introduction to this history of the Discov- 
ery and Conquests of the Northwest. 

There is a certain unique fitness in devoting its closing part, 
to an account of the growth and present position of that Church, 
whose sacred rites he celebrated on the banks of the Chicago 
River, upwards of 200 years ago. The memory of Father 
Marquette, is held in reverence and admiration by every Ameri- 
can, no matter before what altar he worships, or what the form 
and tenets of his religious creed. He is honored as a courageous 
and heroic explorer, and a zealous and Apostolic Christian Mis- 
sionary. 

He is held in veneration for the grace and beauty which 
shone in his character, and the gentle and benignant qualities 
that were illustrated in his labors. 

His lonely and touching death on the opposite shore of Lake 
Michigan fitly crowned a life consecrated to a noble mission. 

That mission was the salvation of souls. He was a priest of 
the Catholic Church, and a missionary of the Society of Jesus. 

It was on the oceasion of Father Marquette’s second trip to the 
[Illinois country that he made a brief sojourn at the site of the 
future city of Chicago, and here, Noy. 1, 1674, on the banks of 
the Chicago river, having erected a temporary hut which served 
as a chapel, he solemnized the mysteries‘of his faith. His congrega- 
tion comprised the two woyageurs, his companions, and the few 
Indians who had gathered in the vicinity. | 

Thus, upwards of 200 years ago, the Catholic Church conse- 
crated the site of the future city by the solemn rites and cere- 
monies of Christian worship. 

It is not deemed necessary to enter into the history of the 
subsequent missionary labors of the pioneer apostles of that 
ehurech, who devoted their labors and consecrated their lives in 
the effort to win to Christianity the Indian tribes of the prairies. 
Dr. John Gilmary Shea, and Protessor Parkman have made 
the narrative familiar. 


718 The Catholie Church in Chicago. 


With the close of the French dominion in the Northwest, 
effected by the Treaty of Utrecht the presence and labors of the 
black-gown gradually disappeared from the scene; though one 
or more of the zealous missionaries would, from time to time, re- 
appear in the'then forbidden territory, to recall and renew amongst 
the Indian tribes the teachings of the pioneer fathers. Some 
semblance of Catholic faith and teaching was thus kept alive and 
preserved by the Indians of Illinois up to the beginning of the 
present century. 

Prior to 1843, Chicago and the entire State of Illinois was 
embraced within the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the See of Vin- 
cennes, Indiana. Up to the year 1835, the religious wants of the 

Jatholie settlers of Chicago and vicinity were supplied by the 
occasional visits and ministrations of a priest from Detroit, or 
Vincennes, 

In that vear, the Rev. Bernard Schaeffer, was assigned to the 
mission of ‘Chicago, as its first settled pastor. His varliest eare 
naturally was the erection of a place of worship which he ac- 
complished, though not without labor and dithculty, in conse- 
quence of the poverty of his flock. 

Before I'ather Schaeffer’s death, which occurred in 1837, he 
had been reinforced in the person of Rev. Father St. Cyr, who 
still survives, and is now in retirement at Carondelet, near St. 
Louis, venerated and honored for his career of missionary labors. 
+ The earliest mention of Chicago in the official Catholic 
almanacs, occurs in that published for the year 1839, which gives 
this brief notice: 

“Rev. James O’Meara, Chicago, visits occasionally Mt. Juliet, 
Calumet, Smallfork, Ulinois Canal, ete.” During the adininis- 
tration of Father O’Meara, visits to Chicago were made by 
Bishops Loras, of Dubuque, and Bishop Purcell, present Arch- 
vishop of Cincinnati. These prelates came to reconcile difticul- 
ties that had arisen between Father O’ Meara and his people. 

The original Church built by Father Schaeffer had meantime 
been removed from the corner of State and Lake to the 
corner of Madison St. and Michigan Avenue, where a 
lot had been secured from the U.S. the same, on which 
was erected at a later period the Episcopal residence, 
known before the fire as the “Bishop’s Palace.” Following the 
history of this primitive Church edifice, we find it moved, some 
years afterwards, to the well known site of St. Mary’s Church, 
the southwest corner of Wabash Avenue and Madison street, 
and from there it was again displaced to give way to the well 
known Pro Cathedral—dear Orv Sr. Mary’s. The old build- 
ing was moved tothe rear, where it served as a_ school 


The Catholic Church in Chicago. 719 


house and place of meeting for the societies of the Church. 

The Rev. Father Badin——“ Old Father Badin” , as he was 
familiarly designated in the West, was an occasional visitor to 
the Catholics of Chicago, in the early days, and many interest- 
ing reminiscences and “anecdotes connected with his labors, are 
told by early surviving Catholic settlers. 

He founded a local temperance society, which embraced nearly 
all the Catholic male adults in Chicago at that time. Fron 
1840 to 1842, Rev. Father St. Palais, afterwards Bishop of 
Vincennes, was pastor of the Chicago Mission, and he had tor 
his assistant Rev. Francis J. Fisher. 

The Catholic population of the diocese, which then included 
Indiana, Michigan and Illinois was estimated in the official Al- 
manac for 1842, at 25,000. 

The formal official history of the Catholic Church in Chicago 
dates from the appointment of its first Bishop—Right Rev. 
William Quarter. 

The Catholic “ See of Chicago,” was established in 1844, 
Bishop Quarter was consecrated in New York, March 10, 1844, 
and took formal possession of the newly-created See Sunday 
May 5, following; thee eremony of installation, being held in the 
old’ Church previously referred to. 

Bishop Quarter was accompanied to Chicago by his brother— 
tev. Walter J. Quarter. 

Bishop Quarter was obliged to begin his Episcopal work at 
the foundation. He built and completed St. Mary’s Oathedral 
which was solemnly consecrated Sunday, Oct. 5, 1845. He found- 
ed the College later known as the “ University of St. Mary’s of 
the Lake” and through his foresight and efforts, a charter for the 
institutiow was subsequently obtained from the legislature of 
the State. ‘The College was first opened and formally dedicated, 
4th, July, 1846. Enrolled among its earliest students were 
many names that have since become honored in the ranks of the 
Priesthood, and others distinguished in public life. Rev. Dr. 
Jno McMullen, who has just laid down his trust as administrator 
of the diocese, and the gallant and lamented General James A. 
Mulligan, occur in the ‘first register, with others that might be 
macied. To Bishop Quarter, is likewise due the credit of havi ing 
secured the passage of the law incorporating the Catholie Bishop 
‘of Chicago as a “Corporation Sole, with power to hold real and 
other property in trust for religious purposes.” Bishop Quar- 
ter’s Episcopal rule was not ot long duration. Incessant and 
laborious toils undermined his health, and on Passion Sunday, 
1848, his flock in St. Mary’s received for the last time his Episco- 
pal blessing. On the 10th, of April ensuing, he expired in the 


720 The Catholic Church in Chicago. 


arms of his beloved and always faithful brother. Loved and 
lamented by all, his remains were solemnly deposited in his 
Cathedral, according to his wish, and a votive tablet long re- 
mained in St. Mary’s, recalling his memory and his memorable 
works. ; : 

His brother, Rev. Walter J. Quarter, acted as administrator 
until the appointment of Bishop Van de Velde, in 1848. 

The Right Rev. James Oliver Van de “Velde, had previously 
filled an important position in the Jesuit University St. Louis, 
Mo., and was a member of that Society. He was formally installed 
as Bishop of the diocese in the Cathedral of St. Mary’s, in 1849. 
The same year was commenced the Church of the Holy Name, 
under the direction of Rev. Father Kinsella, who was at the 
same time rector of the “ College of St. Marys of the Lake.” 

Associated with Father Kinsella were the well known Fathers 
Clowry and Breen. St. Patrick’s Church, corner of Desplaines 
and Randolph, had been established; and about the same time, 
also, a Church for German Catholics was dedicated, which latter 
was located on Washington St. near 5th Avenue? 

The first of the religious orders to obtain a foundation in 
Chicago, was that of the Sisters of Mercy, the foundation of 
their convent on Wabash Ave. being laid in 1846, under the 
direction of the accomplished and lamented Mother Agatha, 
whose early death in 1852 was greatly mourned, not only by 
Catholics but by the entire community. 

Bishop Van de Velde’s administration was troubled and cloud- 
ed by discussions and difficulties, which finally resulted in his 
resignation and transfer to another field of labor. His appoint- 
ment to the diocese of Natchez, dates from July, 1853. 

In that year the experiment of a Catholic weekly journal was 
attempted, under the inanagement of Mr. William Linton, then 
recently from St. Louis. 

Associated with Mr. Linton in the editoral chair was James 
A. Mulligan, a young lawyer of promise, and possessing first 
class talents as a writer. 

January 8, 1854, the “Chicago Catholic Institute” was found- 
ed, a literary association which embraced for many years the 
leading Catholic young men of Chicago, in its ranks and mem- 
bership. 

The course of lectures given by it in the fall of that year, pre- 
sented to the Chicago public, Dr. O. A. Brownson, Thos. 
D’ Arey McGee, James A. McMaster, Donald McLeod, and others. 

On the removal! of Bishop Van de Velde to Natchez, the Rev. 
James Duggan of St. Louis, subsequently Bishop, was appoint- 
ed administrator of the diocese, which position he continued to 


The Catholie Church in Chicago. 721 


hold until the installation of the Right Rev. Anthony O’ Regan, 
likewise of St. Louis, who was consecreted Bishop of Chicago: 
July 25, 1854. 

His administration, like that of his Episcopal predecessor, was 
soon marred by unhappy differences with some of the leading 
priests of the city, finally resulting in the dismissal from the 
diocese of Messrs. Kinsella, Breen and Clowry. 

The bad spirit and resentments sown during the unfortunate 
feud (we do not assume to fix the responsibility), occasioned 
much bitterness of feeling, and, being unable or unwilling to: 
bear the burden of discontent, Bishop O’ Regan sought peace by 
following the example of his predecessor. He too resigned. 
Dr. O’Regan was transferred to a See 2. p. f, and retired to. 
Ireland, where he spent the rest of his days in theseclusion of a 
College with which he had been connected in earlier days. 

In 1859 the Right Rev. James Duggan, the same who had 
charge of the diocese five years previously, and who in the mean- 
time had been promoted to the Episcopal dignity as co-adjutor to: 
the Archbishop of St. Louis, was transferred to Chicago. 

The increase in the Catholic population up to this time had 
fully kept pace with the growth of the city. Churches had mul- 
tiplied on every side; various institutions of charity had been. 
founded, and the establishment of Catholic schools became the 
rnle in nearly all the parishes. 

The House of the Good Shepherd, otherwise known as the 
“ Magdalen Asylum,” was founded in 1857, and the same year 
the Jesuits opened a church “out on the prairie.” 

The prodigies and wonders accomplished by. the Jesuits under 
the energetic leadership of /ather Damen remains to-day the 
pride and marvel of the West Division. 

The Jesuit institutions in Chicago merit a separate chapter. 

A magnificent Church of imposing design and vast propor- 
tion; a grand College completed in all its appointments, and pos- 
sessing a°museum perhaps, unequaled in the West, besides a fine 
library carefully selected, containing 12,000 volumes; numerous 
und capacious Schools, having an attendance of fully 5,000: an 
immense building lately erected for the use of the Societies of 
the parish—all these testify to the zeal and energy of the great 
order. 

In addition to the church of the Holy Family, on West 12th 
St., the Jesuits also built two other Churches, one on 19th St., 
near Halsted—the Church of the Sacred Heart—the other corn- 
er of 18th and Paulina Sts., St. Pius Church. 

The latter is now in charge of Rev. Hugh McGuire—the for- 
mer remains under the control of the Jesuits, and its pastor is 


46 


722 The Catholic Church ir Chicago. 


the renowned Father Damen himself—the pioneer, projector and 
builder of nearly all the great works first noted. Many other of 
the religious orders had already obtained a foothold. The Bene- 
dictines and the Rtedemptorists were assigned to German con- 
eregations, and each built np fine and capacious churches in the 
North division. The female religious orders had been equally 
active—notably the “Sacred Heart, ” which was fortunate in its 
first superior “and founder in Chicago—Madame Gallwey, a 
woman of great mind and possessing prodigious energy of 
character. 

The progress of the Church in Chicago during Bishop Dug- 
gan’s reign was certainly remarkable, and to the public eye all 
seemed fair and prosperous; but there were causes at work which 
effected to bring his official ‘administration to a painful and mel- 
ancholy termination. 

Needless now to recall the deplorable controversies and dissen- 
sions which sprung up in 1868-9. It is a painful chapter in the 
Catholic histury of Chicago. 

The malady that afflicted Bishoy p Duggan became so serious as 
to necessitate his removal, in 1869, to St. Louis, where he has re- 
mained ever since, under the kind ‘and terider care of a commnu- 
nity renowned for their experience and skill in the treatment of 
like cases. Though enjoying robust health, Bishop Duggan has 
never recovered, or shown signs of recovery, from the infirmity 
which had taken root and suddenly obscured an intellect once 
bright and promising. 

Up to the recent appointment of Archbishop Feehan, Bishop 
Duggan remained titular Bishop of Chicago. Rev. Thos. J. Halli- 
gan Pacted as administrator after the removal of Bishop Duggan 
fo St. Louis, and continued in that capacity until the arrival of 
the Administrator Bishop, Right Rev. Thomas J. Foley. 


THE ADMINISTRATION OF BISHOP FOLEY. 


The appointment of the Rev. Thomas Foley, of Balerieae as 
Bishop of Pergamus, z. p. 7, and Administrator of Chicago, 
was announced at the end of the year 1869, and his formal con- 
secration took place in Baltimore, February 27, 1870. He came 
without ceremony or ostentation to enter upon his grave and 
critical charge, and the felicitous opening words of his installa- 
tion address to the clergy and laity, delivered in the Cathedral of 
the Holy Name the Sunday following his arrival in the city, 
“Peace be to you!” was a happy omen “to all the faithful. It was 
not only the key-note to—it was likewise the watchword of, his ad- 
ministration to the end. 


The Catholie Church in Chicago. 723 


During its comparatively brief existence, the Episcopal See of 
Chicago had been the scene of many and serious troubles. 

There had been feuds and failures, contentions and recrimina- 
tions, suspensions and removals, to the grief and affliction of the 
Catholic body at large; but at no time was there suspicion of 
personal scandal; and never did there appear a germ of schism in 
any of the unfortunate ecclesiastical dificulties that had arisen 
between the Ordinary and his clerics. These troubles were 
bruited abroad as indicating that Chicago was an ungovernable 
and an intractable diocese, though never was impression le:s 
well founded. 

Certainly there had been difficulties from time to time. Au- 
thority may have exercised its power in instances with doubtful 
wisdom; and obedience and docility too often, perhaps, were 
wanting on the part of those whose duty it should have been to 
set the example of submission. But all this, and much more, 
that might be alluded to, it is not wise to recail in specific detail, 
still less to comment on and criticise. To ignore it altogether, 
however, would be to omit what has passed into the public histo- 
ry of the period. 

From the beginning to the lamented close of Bishop Foley’s 
administration, no sign of faction, no token of feud, ever made 
an appearance, and he lett the diocese at his decease in a condi- 
tion of concord and prosperity, which constitutes the best tribute 
and the highest testimony to his prudence as an administrator, 
to his zeal as a bishop, to his charity as a man. 

The overwhelming disaster of the great fire in October, 1871, 
razed to the ground many of the finest churches and leading 
Catholic institutions of learning and charity. Besides “dear old 
Saint Mary’s,” there was swept away the Cathedral of the Holy 
Name, the beautiful Benedictine Church of St. J loseph; the 
Church of the Immaculate Conception, St. Michael’s (Redemp- 
tionists), and St. Paul’s. 

Of the charitable institutions, first in all minds was the Orphan 
Asylum, then situate adjacent to the Cathedral. The poor or- 
oe were all saved by the almost superhuman exertions of the 
good Sisters in charge, of the Order of St. Joseph. The convent 
and asylum of the Good Shepherd, the Alexian Brothers’ hospi- 
tal, and the hospital of the Sisters of Charity, the Convent and 
Academy of the Sisters of Mercy, the Christian Brothers’ Acad- 
emy, and the schools attached to all the churches named, except 
only the Cathedral, which, by some strange anomaly, was up to 
this without a parochial school! All these, together with con- 
vents and academies of the German congregations, were utter] as 
swept away in that memorable fire. 


. [24 The Catholic Church in Chicago. 


' Needless to refer to the wreck and ruin of private homes, and 
tv the public and personal losses caused by the fire. 

Ten years have not yet passed since that eventful October 
night, and yet scarcely a vestige of that wreck now remains visi- 
ble, and, more surprising still, the fire itself is hardly a living 
memory. If referred to at all, it is as if it were an event in the 
far away past, like the great fire of London. 

So swiftly do we live in these days of electricity and tele- 
phones ! 

But the great destruction and loss was met by Bishop Foley 
with a promptness and decision which brought out the strength 
and beauty of his character in a stronger light. The orphans 
were homeless: he instantly provided for them. A large number 
were transferred to asylums in the cities of St. Louis, Cincinnati 
and Milwaukee. The Good Shepherd nuns, and the religious of 
the other houseless orders, and their different charges, were pro- 
vided with temporary asylums. 

The Bishop himself accepted the hospitality of the Jesuit 
Tathers, and made their college hishome. His fine house, corner 
of Michigan avenue and Madison streets, with its valuable and 
unique library, rare paintings—accumulated in great part by 
Bishop Duggan—had gone into the common wreck. A few of the 
books, and two or three pictures, hastily rescued, were all that 
remained, I1is solicitude, however, was for more important in- 
terests and concerns. He dispatched several of the leading priests 
on missions through the country to collect funds to aid in re- 
building and restoring what had been destroyed. He encouraged 
all who had suffered to begin anew. 

The unexampled energy which characterized the rebuilding of 
Chicago infused itself into all circles and classes. The Catholics, 
owing to position and circumstances, were least able to set the 
example in this gigantic task, but, aided by generous benefactions 
trom abroad, they, too, set to work and proved themselves no 
laggards in reconstruction. The cathedral was rebuilt, more 
beautiful than before; a new St. Mary’s was provided, although 
in a different quarter; the other churches were gradually re- 
newed; convents, asylums, hospitals, schools, were reared again 
in the familiar places, and, after the lapse of a few years, affairs 
were restored to a settled condition. 

Meantime the population of the city had grown beyond all 
calculation. Not only were the disasters of the fire repaired in 
an incredibly short space of time, but it was made to appear as 
if, indeed, the fire itself was only a “blessing in disguise.” A 
new era, and a grander destiny, seemed to open out in prospect 
for this wonderful city. Certainly no people in history have 


‘The Catholic Church in Chicago. 725 


shown themselves more energetic, more public spirited, more 
broad minded, than have the men who rebuilt Chicago; nor is 
there a city in America more free from the cramping restraints 
of bigotry. | 

The Catholic charities and public institutions of Chicago are 
a proof and a testimony to this honorable characteristic. . People 
of every denomination, and of no denomination at all, aided in the 
hour of necessity; and a large class of non-Catholic merchants 
and others continue still to help them generously. 

After the fire, numerous additional religious orders were in- 
troduced, and nearly all the known communities and religious 
congregations—those at all events known in the United States— 
now possess a foothold and institutions in Chicago. The most 
notable, though the humblest of the late comers, The Little 
Sisters of the Poor, have a spacious house and upwards of one 
hundred inmates. 

It would be tedious and monotonous to give in detail the titles 
of the religious orders established in Chicago—the Catholic Di- 
rectory and even the Chicago Directory will serve to supply the 
hiatus for those curious in such matters. 

The number of the Catholic population of Chicago has long 
been a disputed question. 

It is certainly not fewer than 200,000 souls, and there are 
those whose judgment in the matter is entitled to consideration, 
who aftirm that it approaches more nearly to 250,000, or one-half 
the entire population of the city. 

The growing importance of Chicago, it is known, had long ago 
fixed the attention of the authorities of the Holy See, and but 
for the obstacles growing out of abnormal relations and the sit- 
uation of the titular Bishop, it is not doubted that it would have 
been created a Metropolitan See at the time that dignity was con- 
ferred on Milwaukee. 

Bishop Foley would have worthily become the dignity, but it 
was ordained otherwise. 

In the prime of his manhood, in the midst of his usefulness, 
and surrounded by the honorable and shining monuments of his 
zeal, his charity and his love for religion, he was unexpectedly to 
all, called to receive the reward appointed for the faithful shep- 
herd. He died February 19th, 1879. 

With the death of the greatly lamented Bishop Foley, this 
sketch may suitably be brought to a conclusion. . 

By way of supplement, a few statistics may be grouped show- 
ing the Catholic population of the City, the number of Churches, 
Schools and Academies, Asylums, Hospitals and other institu- 
tion founded by, and under the patronage of that denomination. 


T26 The Great Chicago Fire. 


The number of Churches in the city, including also Hyde 
Park, and the town of Lake, both practically forming part of the 
city, 1s 43: 

The Catholic population of the city and the towns named, 
is not less than 250,000. 

The school attendance in the Catholic parochical Schools and 
Academies is fully 25,000. 

The College maintained by the Jesuits, St. Ignatius College, 
supports a staff of 23 professors, and hasan attendance of 200 
students. St. Joseph’s Orphan Asylum shelters and provides 
tor 8300 Orphans. 

The German Catholic Orphan Asylum for 100, and an Asy- 
lum for Polish and Bohemian children: 

The Catholic Reformatory for boys under the charge of the 
Christain Brothers, contains on an everage, 175 boys. 

The House of the Good Shepherd has upwards of 300 inmates, 
under the benificent guidance of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd. 

The Home for the Aged Poor, provides for 103 old people 
of both sexes, whose daily wants are ministerd to by the prodi- 
gies of charity, “The Little Sisters of the Poor.” 

Three great hospitals are sustained by the Catholic religious 
orders. The Mercy Hospital by the Sisters of Mercy; St. Joseph’ s 
Hfospital by the Sisters of Charity; and the Alexian Hospital by 
the Alexian Brothers. 

The Catholic Female Academies are numerous, and occupy a 
high rank. We may instance: 

St. Xavier’s Academy, conducted by the Sisters of Mercy; 
the two Academies of the Sacred Heart, by the ladies of that {n- 
stitute; besides several Seminaries conducted by German Sister- 
hoods. 

Very many of the Catholic churches of the city are fine and 
costly edifices—notably the Cathedral of the Holy Name, Church 
of the Holy Family (Jesuit), St. James’ Church, (Wabash Ave.) 
St. John’s Church (Clark and 18th,) St. Mary’s, St. Columbkills, 
St. Anthony's, St. Michael’s, St. Joseph, St. Anne’s, St. Stanislan’s 
etc. ete. 

The Catholic charitable institutions, and societies claim a 
separate chapter, but the limit of space, assigned to this sketch 
will not admit even the most meager notice. 

Considering the position and resources of the Catholic popula- 
tion, it must be admitted that prodigies of religious and charita- 
ble zeal have been shown in building up and maintaining so many 
costly institutions devoted to the service of God, and ‘the needs 
of their fellow creatures. 

Innumerable temperance, and benevolent societies, the noble 


Imports and Eaports of Chicago. 127 


organization of &t. Vincent de Paul, serve to promote the wel- 
fare and elevation of the members, and assist the suffering poor 
of the city. 

By the eying wish of Bishop Foley, his vicar-general, the 
Rev. Dr. John McMullen, became the administrator of the dio- 
cese, an appointment which was subsequently confirmed by the 
authorities of the chureh. 

He conducted the affairs of the diocese with signal ability and 
discretion until the recent appointment and installation of the 
Most Rev. P. A. Feehan, Archbishop of Chicago, who com- 
mences his rule under happy auspices, and who alr ready has won 
the esteem and affection of his people. 


IMPORTS AND EXPORTS OF CHICAGO. 
BY M. E. COLE. 


The following act, establishing the collection district of Chi- 
cago, was passed by the Congress of the United States on the 
16th day of July, 1846: 

Be it enacted by the Senate and Louse of Lepresentatives 
of the United States of America, in Congress Assembled; That 
a collection district be and hereby is established upon the western 
shore of Lake Michigan, to be called the District of Chicago, 
within which the port of Chicago shall be a port of entry, on the 
western shore of said lake, from the dividing line of the State of 
Indiana and Illinois, northward, to the town and river Sheboygan, 
and inclusive of the same, which are within the territory of Wis- 
consin. <A collector shall be appointed for said district, who shall 
receive the same amount of annual compensation as the collector 
of the district of Michilimackinac. 

Prior to this date Chicago was a port of delivery in the col- 
lection district of Detroit, Michigan, with Mr. W. B. Snowhook 
as deputy collector. By this act Milwaukee was included in and 
became a part of the collection district of Chicago, and remained 
so until September 28, 1850, when Congress cut off that portion 
of the district lying in the State of Wisconsin, and included it 
in the new district of Milwaukee. 


728 


Iinports and Exports of Chicago. 


The following table gives the names of those who have held 
the appointment of Collector of Customs at the Port of Chicago 
from date of establishment of the port, with date of commission 
and term of service: 


NAME. 


W. B. Snowhook, 
Jacob Russell, 
W. B. Snowhook, 
Philip Conley, 
Jacob Fry, 

B, F. Stroeher, 
Julius White, 
Luther Haven, 
T. J. Kinsella, 
W. B. Scates, 

J. E. McLean, 
N. B. Judd, 

J. R. Jones, 


DATE OF COMMISSION. 


August 18, 1846, 
May 38, 1849, 
March 18, 18538, 
July 10, 1855, 
March 31, 1857, 
June 15, 1858, 
March 380, 1861, 
October 8, 1861, 
Deputy, 

June 11, 1866, 
May 18, 1869, 
July 2, 1872, 
September 21, 1875, 


FROM 


August 27, 1846, 
June 6, 1849, 
April 19, 1853, 
August 1, 1855, 
May 1, 1857, 
July 1, 1858, 
May 1, 1861, 
October 3, 1861, 
March 10, 1866. 
July 1, 1866, 
July 1, 1869, 
July 18, 1872, 
October 1, 1875, 


TO 


July 5, 1849. 
April 18, 1853. 
July 31, 1855. 
April 80, 1857. 
June 30, 1858. 
April 30, 1861. 
October 2, 1861. 
March 9, 1866. 
June 80, 1866. - 
June 30, 1869. 
July 17, 1872. 
Sept. 80, 1875. 
December 2, 1877. 


September 6,1877, | December 8, 1877, 


Wm. H. Smith, 


The following comparison of the numbers employed in the 
Custom House in its early history, with those of a recent date 
is one of the evidences that marks growth: ) 

During the year ending June 30 1850, there were employed in 
the Custom House service in the district of Chicago— 

One collector, five deputies and inspectors, one secret in- 
spector. In all, seven persons. During the year ending June 30 
1880, there were employed, one collector, six deputy collectors, 
one surveyor, one auditor, one assistant auditor, one cashier, 
ten clerks, one watchman, three messengers, four storekecpers, 
one appraiser, two examiners, one opener and packer, twenty 
inspectors. In all, 53 persons. 

The first importation of foreign merchandise into Chicago, as 
a separate district, was made on steamboat “ Boston.” Pease, 
master, from Port Sarnia, Canada West; value, $47,000; duty col- 
lected, $14,00. The record does not give the naine of the impor- 
teror character of the goods. Thisis but one instance, of the 
many, of the imperfection of the record regarding the foreign 
commerce of Chicago in the earlier times. 

The best data that can be obtained regarding the imports, ex- 
ports, duties collected, ete., must be very far trom complete 
‘so far as actual aggregates and volume of foreign transactions 
are concerned, because large amounts of importations have been, 
and are still being made by Chicago houses, which are received 
at, and duties collected by, the customs officers at the seaboard, 
and in no way enter into the aggregates of the foreign traffic of 
Chicago; and in exporting, very little of the enormous business 


3) 


Imports and EFeports of Chicago. 729 


really done by Chicago houses, and which, to be accurate, should 
. be here exhibited, is sent through ‘the Chicago Custom House, 
but instead, goes through those at the tidewater, thus leaving no 
data for aggregating on even basis for estimating. Then it will 
be seen, in tables that are here given, that after exhausting the 
records of the Chief of the Bureau of Statistics; the Register of 
the Treasury; and the Commissioner of Customs, the figurers 
are yet incomplete, for while there is a record of duties collected 
since and including 1847, there is nothing to show the value of 
foreign commerce at the Port of Chicago until the year 1856; 
and as far as any record that might once have existed in Chicago 
regarding transactions prior to October 9th 1871, the fire at that 
date destroyed them, leaving only the records in Washington, 
on which to build the foundation of the later and wonderful 
growth of the City. 

The following table exhibits the Imports of merchandise at 
the Port of Chicago, for each year ending June 30th, beginning 
with 1856—there being no record of prior years—compiled from 
the official records at Washington, not embracing goods im- 
ported by Chicago merchants upon which duties are paid at the 
seaboard : 


Ree’din Bond from 


Year Direct | eet Ree’d without Ap- 
; a , Other districts dae 
Suneas,| Canada. EA ee Ketorsuy use lie goo 

1856 $ 277,404 ING CECH GeE dy MUNG aceece tease raccdasdves cedee $ 277,404 
1857 826,325 PUY Co) ER eas cassivees dag cds nas esscme 6 826,325 
1858 222,980 CREE | Woe TOMNE weesedaiccueteteteisecces and 222,930 
1859 93,588 ee aed RAW REINS Ie sacdabisgesese cree deass 46 93,588 
1860 60,214 SE ee ie Mints Wh eCinedeasedacesredscetes 3 60,214 
1861 77,348 SO ee Dh Ute giketodepivnsvareess cldensd 77,348 
1862 62,129 Cat Ee MN raw td tibcind caeeen eecees ee ¢ 62,129 
1863 184,204 Pe COM at Ler Wace d sie cd tedecareteseaed 134,204 
1864 822,352 BONS s MUU bE er enc Sah gecce eer cine ned ed ¢9 822,352 
1865 811,455 NR PO ieee Sere pect eter tere ee 811,455 
1866 1,095,585 tae © CU sa eDN Wie astsat tadcnsvecadeaesied 1,095,585 
1867 855,790 Soe te Mla thavew soars csv e ceed se tedeks 355,790 
1868 344,174 Sil OVS Mae nshsbivespesescetawenert sexs 1,454,682 
1869 423,889 ECL KAD gee it set su ater bateenevaeadarees 1,215,008 
1870 735,894 951,947 No data. 1,687,841 
1871 575,154 1,467,845 Sei tin Ss 2,042,499 
1872 958,111 1,685,627 da A 2,588,738 
1873 1,658,625 746,059 $ 3,189,572 5,544,256 
1874 808,517 282,597 1,959,161 8,050,275 
1875 561,549 178,237 2,721,903 8,461,689 
1876 §21,537 498,261 8,065,492 4,085,290 
1877 827,420 656,701 2,229,319 8,213,440 
1878 899,920 809,795 2,693,618 8,403,333 
1879 272,966 804,648 2,583,621 8,161,035 
1880 847,935 667,544 4,027,273 5,542,752 


730 Imports and Eaports of Chicago. 


The following table ea by years the receipts at the Port of 
Chicago, from August 2 7, 1846, to June 380, 1880, on account of, 
duties on Imports, Tonia duty and Marine Hospital money; 
also, the expense of collecting the revenue from customs: 


, | 
Year ’ g farine Hospital Expense of 
ae Duties. | Dut ‘ Goliectioned Collecting: 
1847 > uksd heal, GS decane aeeh supe > 259.74 $ 1,882.26 
1848 BALA ee BCR Rt 640.47 1,784.83 
1849 BOLO ONE) sae edtu ls ech benans 707.50 2,609.52 
1850 ASZSO PGi che daccens Pianos 1,060.55 4,935.21 
1851 4 OO 4 Plies ev eeeuesk hex, 176.75 2,816.00 
1852 LOG 1 O BBG aa er we teeuene se 577.89 2,400.00 
1853 10:86. 46 it oro teetecea bes cte 838.40 2,853.01 
1854 BOL SRAIZO Pi jes eserves sedate 1,119.50 5,017.75 
1855 673, S2157D. Wl oateaeserepeste ses 1,549.05 7,295.00 
1856 205,195.00 $ 872.50 1,826.50 11,971.83 
1857 143009 .25 iT eseectwerescoewes 2,151.97 14,586.00 
1858 ROTE O14) eee caeks veces eyes 1,598.64 14,097.11 
1859 23,131.89 277.00 1,044.67 12,723.00 
1860 G8, 919553 nol Seine ctesadpteeens 1,661.13 12,576.00 
1861 AD 140535) Gut cusvesech sasece ess 2,137,382 12,525.00 
1862 BLO2G 14 iy cethaeserscseee 2,753.67 12,809.35 
1863 65,980.59 $ 9,760.13 8,432.10 12,317.45 
1864 158,454.92 10,962.97 3,581.70 15,670.00 
1865 127,931.74 28,006.60 3,910.02 17,213.00 
1866 893,406.55 22,953.85 4,137.06 20,146.40 
1867 511,081.89 382,842.78 8,768.55 81,585.40 
1868 659,880.73 81,192.72 4,475.64 59,831.83 
1869 588,835.71 82,859.07 4,370.50 70,019.82 
1870 691,066.82 28,135.07 4,189.89 58,425.30 
1871 827,964.81 7,922.08 1,884.42 65,942 00 
1872 1,397,395.72 9,434.84 year pi ae G | 100,917.99 
1873 2,150,586.382 8,530.56 7,928.66 161,662.39 
1874 1,854,645.389 7,959.82 8,214.56 134,981 97 
1875 1,447,290.21 3,800.13 7,951.64 121,808.44 
1876 1,647,002.17 2,451.46 6,901.89 144,484.10 
1877 1,370,079.52 2,096.54 7,112.92 123,818.96 
1878 1,497,939.12 2,846.93 7,067.65 98,191.92 
1879 1,482,063.56 4,882 06 6,906.66 94,210.48 
1880 2,238,537.62 5,882.42 7,529.20 119,682.50 


As has been previously stated, the exports direct from Chicago, 
as shown in the following table, are not complete, and do not 
give a correct statement of the total or aggregate export business 
at the port of Chicago, as the only available statistics are those 
covering exports sent from Chicago on through bills, it being 
impossible to separate shipments from Chicago which exe) through 
other custom houses, from the business of that district, thus 
affording no opportunity for Chicago to know the real magni- 
tude of its export trade. 


Imports and Exports of Chicago. 731 

The following table shows the value of merchandise exports 
from Chicago for the years named, as shown in the record of 
direct and through business from the port: 


Year | 
Ending Domestic. Foreign. Total. 
June 30, | 
1856 Do Ai Ri catasks sheescddncieateves save $1,345,223 
1857 1,585,096 $ 3808.00 1,585,404 
1858 iP 718 00% SLAPS: Ceo “ae Ree 1,713,077 
1859 Pe eUt LOD Ow Um UME Meas Side eca'eedvceet esd on enains & 1,269,885 
(1860 el Gly Lec Ul Pretec es ess Tavuandeah odes <2. 1,165,183 
1861 3,522,343 ean Ge tare sedeueandes exe esa + 8,522,348 
1862 Doe diem MEW Uiceveckosaressdess Gotte voce sans 2,303,275 
1833 EA OES | ADE ears sh we otis tonhb ace apeteede + « 3,544,085 
1864 DulleOOk BPE) Seek sek chameg ends deleckoere vice 8,529,034 
1865 BRNO Yn. TOM ltomens beeameteetagetitasree ses 4,590,350 
1866 2,636,539 > 7,936.00 2,644,475 
1867 1,818,463 5,908.00 1,824,371 
1868 6,052,062 caees due ound e¢bedies sis save de << 5,052,062 
‘1869 GoTA2rZDGe WY ES Weasasanectehssateiescreedeeas s 3,742,256 
1870 2; 611,678 $ 1,394.00 2,613,072 
1871 5,573,660 6,514.00 5,580,174 
1872 8,088,629 1,757.00 3,090,886 
1873 6,039,125 10,538.00 6,049,668 
1874 7,110,0 2,884.00 7,112,986 
1875 3,427,759 1,596.00 3,429,355 
1876 3,398,847 47,704.00 8,446,551 
1877 8,413,373 21,265.00 3,434,638 
1878 8,765,855 16,044.00 8,781,899 
1879 2,829,582 6,980.00 2,836,562 
1880 3,438,671 6,708.00 8,445,879 


The following table shows the number and tonnage of vessels 
built, also the tonnage of vessels documented at the port of Chi- 
cago, Ill., from August, 1846, to June 30, 1880, inclusive : 


Year Total Total satel ace Enrolled ~ 
Pane Pree Tonnage. mera | Srieaneee | Aggregate. 
BOLT WD fica cateein MRetkr vests scons |. Ovedel Moe doeates 3,951.56 3,951.56 
Phar Ren Gao ts aee-pedh | pipe Ske Wi RE Bib ie ae ee rn 10,488.62 10,488.62 
1849 13 Pw ANEW SE Ge 25 Ae 5 BEE Mee 17,832.43 17,332.43 
1850 13 TeGol sz lel aeesecreesattece AES. a lly 21,242.17 
1851 - 4 BO LGsOG We cs. Cadedies foetus 23,103.45 23,103.45 
1852 ni LOL Tae Weatevenceasieee ts " 25,209.30 25,209.30 
1853 9 PISS So |Biitered. stedcee. 27,015.75 27,015.75 
1854 16 05 200.06) Motcccterdcusesees: 31,041.04 31,041.04 
1855 iy WE CAZ 21 DIOS semis sete 50,972.00 50,972.00 
1856 21 4540447 ee aeee oakete om 57,407 380 57,407.30 
1857 9 aD 225 1. febacnlaeses aaah ace 67,316.92 67,316.92 
1858 7 BGA IE covert varesccs 67,001.23 67,001.23 
1859 3 230.01 1,057.56 67,065.78 68,123.39 
DEM Liguve sts etocee tabobetecvire c¥ 1,624.00 77,192.05 78,816.05 


732 Vital Statistics of Chicago. 
" | 

al ™ Total Total : Registered Enrolled : 

pacing | Number | cortage, | image, | oud licensed | -Agrepate 
1861 4 1 O8.02201 Go. atataeereetens 85,743.66 85,743.66 
1862 5 1,411.83 1,100.89 107,256.48 108,357.42 - 
1863 85 9,783.18 1,385.59 125,298 76 126,684.40 | 
1864 96 11,468.01 9,682.37 150,558.65 160,241.07 
1865 84 8,521.07 4,223.31 71,220.55 75,444.41 
1866 12 ® 942.385 | 2,569.50 84,115.83 86,685.33 
1867 36 1,896.22 521.91 94,814.14 95,336.05 © 
1868 29 7,153.80 8,313.61 97,846.36 100,753.71 | 
1869 16 2,346.08 2,079.65 101,966.22 104,314.58 
1870 15 1,676.67 956.04 92,365.16 93,625.49 
1871 12 1,771.49 494.96 93,423.98 93,918.97 
1872 6 OZO LLM ces teteeeie ess. 95,195.04 95,195.04 
1873 18 4,664.15 8,073.74 102,878.99 106,252.73 
1874 14 3,562.98 38,644.27 92,322.20 95,966.47 
1875 12 500.89 8,843.06 77,284.24 86,077.30 
1876 11 775.93| 11,915.40 76,802.85 88,218.25 
1877 6 377.10} 14,980.69 69,885.53 84,866.22 
1878 13 612.18| 17,406.48 68,579.97 85,986.45 © 
1879 5 180.46] 138,042.61 65,175.92 78,218.53 
1880 1 37.04 5,062.96 71,415.06 76,478.02 


_VITAL STATISTICS OF CHICAGO. 


Among the essential conditions necessary to the growth of large 
cities, a healthy location may be set down as the first and even an 
indispensable one. Torpid livers are a millstone around the 
necks of business men, and are a stumbling-block to the progress 
of any locality whose inhabitants are afflicted by them. Lappily 
for Chicago, its atmosphere is salubrious, notwithstanding the 
whole country around is flat. Its elevation above tide-water is 
600 feet as an average throughout the city, and from the great 
plateau on which it stands the general grade of the entire country 
southward to the Gulf of Mexico declines at the rate of between 
three and four inches to the mile. ‘To the East, down the coun- 
try, along the lakes and through the valley of the St. Lawrence, 
the declination is only a trifle less per mile on the average, the 
distance to the sea being somewhat greater. Northwardly and 
westwardly, for about 500 miles, the general level of the country 
(though varied by gentle slopes and oval ridges to the west, and 
some precipitous river banks and uplifts to ‘the north) is only a 
little above that of Chicago, and over this broad surface the wind 
plays, breathes and ventilates, dissolving and neutralizing any 
stagnant or dormant accumulation of bad air. 


Vital Statistics of Chicago. 733 


Table showing the number of deaths each year from 1843 to 


1879, inclusive: 


Year. 


1845 
1844 


1845 
1846 
1847 
1848 
1849 


1850 
1851 
1852 


Population. 


7,580 
8,000 


12,088 
14,169 
16,859 
20,023 
23,047 
28,269 
34,434 
38,738 
60,652 
65,872 
80,028 
84,113 
93,000 
90,000 
95,000 
112,172 
120,000 
138,835 
160,000 
169,353 
178,900 
200,418 
220,000 
252,054 
280,000 
298,700 


Deaths.’ 


129 
806 


313 
859 
520 
580 

1,547 

1,334 
843 

1,652 

1,205 

8,834 

1,988 

1,897 

2,170 

2,050 

1,826 

2,059 

2,072 

2,578 

3,623 

4,044 

3,663 

5,931 

4,648 

5,984 

6,488 


7,328 


Remarks. 


Increased mortality due to prevalence of scarlet 
fever. 

Scarlet fever prevailed, 

66 sé 

The first record of deaths by City Sexton. 

First small-pox ‘‘scare’’ occurred this year. 

Cholera epidemic—678 deaths; one in 36 of the 
population. 

Cholera epidemic—--420 deaths. 

216 deaths from cholera; small-pox prevails, 

630 deaths from cholera, and 9 deaths from small- 


pox. 

Only one death from cholera; 54 deaths from dys- 
entery. 

Increased mortality mostly due to Cea from 
which there were 1,424 deaths, 

Only 147 deaths from cholera; 150 from dysen- 
tery ; 30 from small: pox. 

Typhoid and malarial fevers prevalent; 16 deaths 
from small-pox. 

Remittent and typhoid fever prevalent ; scarlet fever 
appears;*dysentery epidemic. 

Scarlet fever. and Syee Dar s peey ails 
66 66 66 

Decrease of scarlet fever and increase of diptheria; 
of the latter 154 deaths occurred. 

Only 45 deaths from scarlet fever, and 112 from 
diptheria. 

835 deaths from scarlet fever; slight increase from 
nearly all other causes. 

405 deaths from scarlet fever; 115 deaths from 
small pox; erysipelas prevails. 

From small-pox, 283 deaths; typhoid fever, 192 
deaths; erysipelas, 34 deaths. 

From small-pox, 57 deaths; typhoid and malarial 
fever, 330 deaths. 

Deaths from cholera, 990; typhoid and malarial 
fevers, 422 deaths. 

Only 10 deaths from cholera; 123 deaths from 
small-pox. 

Small-pox, diarrhceal diseases, scarlet and typhoid 
fevers prevail. 

No epidemic influences; increase of deaths due to 
increased population. 

No epidemic influences; increase of deaths due to 
increased population. 


aad 


Vital Statistics of Chicago. 


ee ae eT eT ee Ee ee Re Nn Se ett Cnn ray eee Wee pS See ae Syn PE eS 


Year, | Pop'la’n. | Death. | 


' 1871 
. 1872 


, 1873 
' 1874 


834,270 
867,396 


380,000 
395,409 
407,000 
420,000 
439,976 
450,000 
480,000 


6,976 
10,156 


9,557 
8,025 


Remarks, 


Statistics imperfect in consequence of the destruction of 
Records by the Great Fire, Oct. 9. 

655 deaths from small pox. Increased mortality due to 
overcrowding of workmen engaged in rebuilding the 
City. 

517 deaths from small pox, and 117 from cholera. 

No deaths from cholera; 90 from small pox. 

Principal causes of death, diarrhoea and lung diseases. 

Scarlet fever and ADS pr se 
66 és éé 

Free from epidemic influences. 

Diptheria and scarlet fever prevailed; no epidemic. 


i i tt 


The population for several of the foregoing years has been es- 
timated, and, for several, based on directory statistics. 

The following table ite the nativities of those who died in 
Chicago in the year 1879: 


Nativities. 


Chicago 


U. S8.—elsewhere 
Germany 


{reland 


Beeeorvessnend 


eeeceseod 


Other foreign countries.. 


Unknown 


eeeorveornd 


REMARKS. 


4,808 Of the aggregate deaths this year were 4,570 

1,423 | males, 4,044 females, 1,915 married, 6,095 
911 single, 414 widows, 190 widowers, 8,505 white, 
748 | 111 colored. Premature births, 101; still 
668 | births, 692. 


Comparative mortality for the ten years ending 1879, giving 
the death rate per thousand of population: 


Year. 


1869 
1870 
1871 
1872 
1873 


REMARKS. 


The death rate for 1879, for New York was 25.82; Brooklyn, 


20.49 ; 


Boston, 19.72: Philadelphia, 17.17; New Orleans, 


23.66; San Francisco, 14.18; Baltimore, 19.53. 


eee 


The foregoing statistics have been obtained from M. K. Glea- 
son, M. De Register of Vital Statistics for Chicago. 


The Calumet Club. 735 


‘HE CALUMET CLUB. 


lpY F. B. TUTTLE. ' 


The Calumet Club was organized on the 4th day of April, 
1878, at a meeting of gentlemen, who, “being desirous of form- 
ing a club for social purposes,” had signed a document pledging 
their personal assistance in the organization of the same. A 
charter was procured the 138th of "April, the following officers 
having been elected to serve for the first year:—Pr esident, Gen. 
Anson Stager; Vice-President, Mr. Chas. J. Barnes; Treasurer 
and Secretary, bid ys? Tuttle: Directors, the above mentioned 
officers and Messrs. Chas. W. Drew, Augustus N. Eddy, J. G. 
Coleman, 8. J. Glover, E. F. Getchell, Edson Keith, and Wm. 
Chisholm. 3 

The large residence on the northeast corner of Michigan Av- 
enue and 18th Street was secured under a three years lease, and 
thrown open for an iaspection by members, Monday evening, 
May 27th, 1878. 

The formal opening occurred June 3rd, when the club gave its 
first reception to the members and their | ladies. ‘The reception 
proved a success in every particular, and the precursor of other 
equally enjoyable entertainments. In the following October, the 
Club gave its next reception, when one hundred and thirty meri- 
torious works of art were displayed on the walls of the Club 
Hlouse—a rather ambitious undertaking for a six months old 
Club. The art reception was followed by one given to the State 
Microscopical Society, the members thereof exhibiting over one 
hundred instruments with interesting objects. 

On the 24th of January, 1879, a reception was given to Miss 
Minnie Hauk, “as a mark of recognition of her efforts on behalf 
of the sufferers by the Chicago fire.’ 

In pursuance of a resolution, adopted at the first annual meet- 
ing of the Club, a reception to the Old Settlers of Chicago, resi- 
dent prior to 1840, was given on the evening of the 27th of May, 
1879, the first anniversary of the opening of the Club House. 

Jt was indeed a happy thought, to thus honor the men, who by 
their perseverence and “ go-ahead-ativeness,” had done so much to 
build up the city. They had made Chicago their home when it 
was but a small prairie village; had suffered privations incident 
to a frontier settlement, but had felt sufficient confidence to in- 
vest such funds as they accumulated, for very few brought 


736 The Calumet Club. 


money with them when they came to the “far West,” in land 
that sold in 1835 at prices that now seem incredible, as for in- 
stance, $1.25 an acre for the ground on which the Club House 
now stands. A syndicate composed of several members of the 
Club, has just purchased 54 x 1634 feet of this same property, 
with improvements, at $38,000, with the intention of tearing 
down the present building, and erecting on the site, one in every 
way suited to Club purposes, containing in addition to the ordin- 
ary reception rooms, ete., a large assembly room for art exhibi- 
tions, concerts, lectures, banquets, etc.; suites of private dining 
rooms, bowling alleys, and a grand dining room, besides eighteen 
or twenty rooms for members, the income from which will ma- 
terially aid in offsetting the interest to be paid on the amount 
of money invested in the establishment. 

But to return to the Old Settler’s reception, an occasion that 
gathered together so many silvered-haired gentlemen that a lady 
who rode to the Club House with her husband, gazing throngh 
the open window at the unusual sight in Chicago, actually did 
her best to persuade her husband not to enter, as “it was a secret 
society, for they all wore white caps.” The guests at this time 
were seated in the parlors where they listened to addresses by 
the Rev. Stephen R. Beggs, who held a service in Fort Dearborn 
in 1831; Ex-Chief Justice John Dean Caton, “the father of the 
Chicago bar,” who in his own words “was an old resident of six 
weeks’ standing before two hundred and fifty inhabitants could 
be counted to authorize a village incorporation under the general 
laws of the State;” Judge Henry W. Blodgett, who came to 
Chicago in 1831, a mere lad, but strong enough to be one of the 
hundred who bore muskets in old Fort Dearborn, when every 
man, woman, and child in Illinois north of Ottawa and east of 
Nock River, were gathered there for safety; Judge James Grant, 
now of Davenport, Iowa; the Hon. John Wentworth, who has 
done so much to rescue from oblivion the early history of Chi- 
cago; Judge Grant Goodrich, who came to Chicago when there 
were but eight frame buildings in all the territory now covered 
by the city; the Hon. J. Young Scammon, who in an early day 
was said to be “crazy on the subject of schools,” and it was 
added “that the people would not allow their money to be wasted ;” 
ex-Lieut. Gov. Wm. Bross, who, though not technically an old 
settler, has been by his writings and researches, more or less 
identified with early Chicago; and by Henry Strong, Esq., who 
delivered an address of welcome that was replete with facts per- 
taining to the past and present of Chicago. The Zribune of 
the following day says:— 

“The gathering was called to order at 8:30, by Mr. S. B. Cobb, 


The Calumet Club. 737 
Chairman of the Committee on Reception, o 7 3 
5 " 4 and, the programme being completed, the Chair- 
man further announced that the Old Settlers would adjourn. 
from business to ]unch. 

And the old settlers didn’t stay upon the order of their going,. 
but repaired at once to the lunch-rooms adjoining. In one of 
these a long table was set with a cold supper of sandwiches, 
salads, and ices, reinforced by the delicious concoction of the 
_ fragrant berry. Such as could not get within this room were 
served in the reading-room. ‘The table in the main supper-room. 
was rendered additionally attractive by a clever imitation in 
sugar of Fort Dearborn, placed directly in the centre. After 
supper, Mark Beaubien got out his fiddle, “rosined” the bow, got 
the venerable instrument in tune, and in less time than it takes 
to write it, “Long John” Wentworth had a number of choice 
spirits under way to the accompaniment of the liveliest kind ot 
dances. The veterans, ably assisted by some of the young men, 
who were n’t exactly following out Long John’s advice with re- 
gard to keeping suth hours as would result in a surplus of corn 
on their Cobb (no more were the veterans themselves), scampered 
around at an equally lively rate, and the fun was of the fast and | 
furious, though innocent, kind that a lot of happy children might . 
indulge in. In short, it was glorious, and the old fellows, as 
well as the young fellows—-to whom it must have been a novelty 
enjoyed it for all it was worth. ‘The festivities were drawn out 
until some time after midnight, when the gathering broke up, 
amidst many repetitions of the unanimous verdict that the old 
settlers’ reception had been an unqualified success,—one far be- 
yond the most sanguine hopes of its promoters,—and amidst a 
general wish that the reception might not be the last of its kind.’” 

The “ general wish” was gratified; as the reception not only 
proved an occasion of great enjovment, both to the club and its 
guests, but also caused a renewed interest in the early history of 
Chicago, it was resolved by the Board of Directors, that such re- 
ception be given on the third Thursday of May in each year 
hereafter. The success of the reception was largely due to the 
Old Settlers’ Committee of the club, who labored energetically to 
perfect its details and to compile alist of the early residents who 
were still living. On the 17th of November, Gen. and Mrs. U. 
S. Grant were received by the Club; and on the 15th of January 
a Reception was given by the Bachelor Members of the Club. 

The first reception to the O:d Settlers partook largely of a 
literary character, and succeeded in awakening a renewed inter- 
est in matters pertaining to early Chicago, and in causing many 
publications relating thereto, among others, a pamphlet contain- 


AT 


738 The Calumet Club. 

ing the speeches made at the reception, and a record of the Old 
Settlers who registered that evening. The register was not as 
complete as it was hoped it would be, many of the elder gentle- 
men having been obliged to leave the reception before the 
speeches were concluded. On the cecasion of the second annual 
reception to the Old Settlers, many names were added to the re- 
cord, which is particularly interesting, as the dates, etc., were writ- 
ten by the parties themselves, with the exception of Mr. Oliver 
C. Crocker’s, of Binghampton, N. Y., who came to the Club 
House one morning in July, 1879, to register, and before doing 
so, asked the pr ivilege of resting a few ‘moments on the lounge, 
as he felt ill. Ile grew rapidly worse and died the second day 
after. The dates were afterward supplied by his family. The 
following are the 


NAMES OF THE OLD SETTLERS OF CHICAGO, WHO CAME PRIOR TO 


1840, REGISTERED AT THE CALUMET CLUB. 


NAME. 


Adams, Charles 


Adams, William H. 


Adsit, James M. 
Ailen, Edward R. 
Allen, Thomas, 
Arnold, Isaac N. 
Batchelor, Ezra, 
Bailey, Bennet, 
Baker, Franklin, 


Baldwin, William A. 


Balsley, John, 
Bascom, Flavel, 
Bates, John, 
Beaubien, Mark, 
Beecher, Jerome, 
Beggs, Stephen R. 
Berden, Nicholas, 
Blackman, Edwin, 
Blarsy, Barnhard, 
Blake S. Sanford, 
Blodgett, Henry W. 
Boone, Levi D. 
Botsford, Jabez K. 
Bowen, Erastus S. 
Bradley, David, 
Bradwell, James B. 
Brookes, Henry, 
3rown, Lemuel, 


Bryan, Frederick A. 


Burley, Arthur G. 


Burley, Augustus H. 
Burnet, Gen. Ward B. 


Campbell, James, 
Carter, Thomas B. 
Carpenter, Abel E. 
Carpenter, Philo, 
Jastle, Edward H, ' 
Caton, John Dean, 
Chacksfield, Geo. 


Church, William L. 


Clarke, Henry W. 
‘Clarke, L. J. 
Couch, James, 
Clarke, Norman, 
Cobb, Silas B. 


DATE OF ARRIVAL. 


1835, Sept. 
1837, Sept. 
1838, April 2. 
1839, July. 
1835, Oct. 
1836, Oct. 
1837, June 4, 
1834, Auzust, 
1838, May, 


1836, June 13, 


1839, 
1833, July, 
1832, May 20, 
1826, 
183838, July 1, 
1851, June, 
1337, Sept. 
1839, May, 
1837, June, 
1834, June 15, 
1837, June, 
1836, May 31, 
1833. 
1833. 
1835, Oct. 
1834, June, 
1833, Oct. 
1833, Feb. 
1836, Oct. 
1835, May 11, 
1837, May 25, 
ee Aug. 
1836, May, 
1838, Sept. 
1833, June, 


1839, May, 
1833, June, 
1835, Nov. 
1836, May 16, 
1838, June, 
1836, 

1836, 

1835, 

1833, May 29, 


BIRTHDAY. 


Norwalk, Conn. 
Westport, Conn. 
Spencertown, N. Y.. 
Cortland, N. Y. 
Broome Co., INgeX 
Hartwick, N. ie 
Paxton, Mass. 
Harford Co., Md. 
Watertown, N. Y. 
Austerlitz, N. Y. 
Pennsylvania. 
Lebanon, Conn. 
Fishkill,N. Y.  ¢ 
Detroit, Mich. 
Remsen, N. Y. 


Rockingham Co., Va. 


Germany. 
Jericho, Vermont. 
Germany. 
Burlington, Vt. 
Massachusetts. 
Lexington, Ky. 
Connecticut, 
New York. 
Groton, N. Y. 
England. 
England. 
Cumberland, R. I. 
England. 
Exeter, Nee 
Exeter, N. H. 
Pennsylvania. 


Northumberland}Co., Pa, 


New Jersey. 
Savoy. Mass. 
Massachusetts. 


Dutchess Co., N. Y. 


Vermont, 

New York, 
Vermont. 
Montpelier, Vt. 


AGE. PRESENT ADDRESS. 


65 Norwalk, Conn. 
64 Chicago. 
70 Chicago. 
61 Aurora, Ill. 
70 Chicago. 
64 104 Pine Street, Chicago. 
59 Milwaukee. 
68 Chicago. 
62 Chicago. 
71 26314 111. Street, Chicago. 
66 Chicago, 
76 Hinsdale, 1. 
76 Chicago. 
79 Newark, Kendall Co., Til. 
61 Chicago. 
78 Plainfiel dh IOUE 
76 Englewood, Till. 
64 Chicago. 
69 Chicago. 
63 Racine, Wis. 
57 Waukegan, 
70 Chicago. 
66 Chicago, 
64 Chicago. 
69 Chicago. 
51 Chicago. 
59 Hyde Park, TIl. 
96 Kenwood, Iil. 
59 Chicago. 
66, Chicago. 
60 Chicago. 
70 New York City. 
70 Chicago. 
62 Chicago. 
65 Aurora, Ill. 
74 Chicago. 
69 Chicago. 
67 Ottawa, Ill. 
70 Chicago. 
62 Kenwood, Il. 
64 Chicago. 
51 Chicago. 
79 Chicago. 
71 Racine, Wis. 
67 Chicago, 


NAME. 


Cleaver, Charles, 
Cook, Isaac, 
Crocker, Oliver C. 


Densmore, Eleazer W. 


DeWolf, Calvin, 
Dodge, Martin, 
Dodge, W.S. 
Dodson, Christian B. 
Doty, Theodorus, 
Drummond, Thomas, 
Dyer, G. R 
Eastman, L. 

Egan, Wiley M. 
Elliott, James F. D. 
Ellithorpe, Albert C. 
Fergus, Robert, 
Ferguson, Andrew, 
Flood, Peter F. 
Follansbee, Charles, 
Freeman, Robert, 
Freer, L. C. Paine, 
Gale, Abram, 

Gale Stephen F. 
Gates, Phi.etus W. ° 
Germain, George H. 
Gilbert, Samuel H. 
Goodrich, Grant, 
Goodrich, T. W. 
Goold, Nathaniel, 
Graff, Peter, 
Granger, Elihu, 
Grannis, Amos, 
Grant, James, 

Gray, Franklin D. 
Gray, George M. 
Gray, John, 

Gray, Joseph H. 
Gray, William B. H. 
Hadduck, Edward H. 
Haines, E. M. 

Hall, Philip A, 


Hamilton, Polemus D. 


Hanchett, John L. 
Harmon, E. R. 
Harmon, Issaac N. 
Hawley, John S, 
Herrick, Charles, 
Hickling. William, 
Higgins, Eben, 
Higgins, Van H. 
Hilliard, Lorin P. 
Hoard, Samuel, 
Hoffman, Michael, 
Holden, Charles N. 
Holden, James, 
Hollinshead, Wm. 
Hooker, Jas. L. 
Horton, Dennison, 
Howe, Frederick A. 
Huntington, Alonzo, 
Hoyne, Thomas, 
Hubbard, Gurdon §. 
Jones, Nathaniel A. 
Kehoe, Michael, 
Kellogg, Artemas B. 
Killick, I. E 
Kimball, Mark, 
Kimball, Martin N. 
Kimball, Walter, 
King, Tuthill, 
Knickerbocker, H. W. 
Lane, Elisha B. 
Lane, James, 
Lange, Oscar, 
Laflin, Mathew, 
Lathrop, Sam, J. } 


The Calumet Club. 


DATE OF ARRIVAL BIRTHPLACE, 
1833, Oct. 23, 
1834, February, 
1834. June, 
1835, Sept. 
1837, Oct. 31, 
1838, April, 


London, England, 
New Jersey. 
Union, N. Y, 
Paris, N. Y. 
Luzerne Co., Penn, 
Salt Point, N. Y. 


1839, May, Salt Point, N. Y. 
1833, August, Burwick, Penn, 
1837, New York. 

1835, May, Bristol, Maine. 
1835, Nov. Clarendon, N. Y. 
1839, April, Amherst, Mass. 
1836, Nov. Ballston, N. Y. 


1838, May 30, 
1839, April 1, 
1839, July 1, 
1836, April, 
1835, June, 
1836, May 9, 


New York. 

St. Albans, Vt. 
slasgow, Scotiand, ° 
Laurens, N. Y 
Ireland. 
Massachusetts, 


1838, Pennsylvania. 
1836, May, Auburn, N. Y:! 
1835, May 22, Warwick, Mass, 
1835, May, Exeter, N. H. 
1837, June, Madison Co., N. Y. 
1839, New York, 

1836, June, Bristol, England, 
1834, New York, 

1832, Benson, N. Y. 
1838, July, New Hampshire, 
1836, Sept. 10, Albany, N.Y. 
1836, New Hampshire, 
1836, New York, 

1834, a 23, Enfield, N orth Carolin 
1839, Sep. Sharon, Conn. 
1834. June, Sherborn, N. Y. 
1837, New York, 

1836, July, Boston, Mass. 
1837, Sept. Boston, Mass. 
1833, May, Salisbury, N. H. 
1835, May, Oneida, N. Y. 
1836, June 4, New York, 

1834, New York, 

1835, June, New York, 

1833, Aug. Fredonia, N. Y. 
1833, Aug. 3, Fredonia, N. Y. 
1837, May, Ridgefield, Conn. 
1837, April, Westford, Mass. 
1835, March, England, 

1836, April, Jamestown, N. Y. 
1837 New York, 


1836, May, 
1836, Oct, 18, 


Unadilla Forks, N. Y. 
Westminster. Mass. 


18387, Oct. Germany, 
1887, New York, 
1839, May, Springfield, N. Y. 
18: 36, May, Stroudsberg, Pa. 
1834, June, Sackett’s Harbor, N.Y. 
1836, Aug. Connecticut. 
1854, July, Buffalo, N. Y. 
1835, Vermont, 


1837, Sept. 1, 
1818, Oct. 1, 
1838, Sept. 
1839, May, 
1838, Nov. 
1836, Sept. 
1839, Sept. 
1836, Oct. 
1833, Sept. 


New York, 
Windsor, Vt. 
Rutland, Vt. 
Ireland, 
London, sa: 
renesee Co, N 
Saratoga, N. Y, 
Rome, N. Y. 


EG . 


1835, April, New York 

1§33, Oct. New York, 
1836, New Hampshire, 
1836, Ireland, 

1838, Sept. Gothenberg, Sweden, 
"1837, May, Southwick, Mass. 


1834) Sept. Providence, R. I. 


a, 66 


139 


AGE, PRESENT ADDRESS, 

64 Chicago. 

76 St. Louis. 

68 Binghampton, N. Y. 

58 Chicago. 

64 Chicago, 

64 Montague, Mich, 

66 LaFayette, Ind. 

69 Geneva, Il. 

77 Chicago. 

69 Winfield, T1. 

67 Joliet, Til. 

65 Maywood, 1 

Chicago, 

55 Mattoon, d 00 

Chicago. 

Chicago. 

77 Geneva Lake, Wis. 

Chicago. 

Chicago. 

Naperville. 

Chicago. 

Galewood. 

Chicago. 

Chicago. 

Chicago. 

333 Walnut St., Chicago. 

Chicago. 

Milwaukee. 

Jhicago. 

4 Chicago. 

Kaneville. 

Chicago. 

Davenport, Iowa, 

61 Chicago, 

60 Chicago, 

68 Jefferson, 

67 Hyde Park. 

58 Chicago. | 

68 Chicago. 
Waukegan, Ills, 

60 Chicago. 

65 Chicago. 

73 Chicago. 

62 Chicago. 

52 Chicago. 

59 Aurora, Il. 

66 Racine, Wis. 

65 Chicago. 

64 Chicago, 

58 Kenwood. 

64 Chicago, 

80. 205 Morgan St., Chicago. 

C ‘hicago. 

Chicago. 


Elkhorn, Wis 
Watertown,N.Y. 
Chicago, 
Chicago, 
Chicago, 
Chicago, 

243 White St., Chicago. 
Chicago. 

390 W. 12th St., Chicago, 
Chicago. 
Southport. 
Chicago. 
Chicago. 
Chicago. 
Chicago. 
Naperville, 
Chicago. 

75 Chicago. 

69 Chicago. 

77 Chicago. 

68 Bristol, 11. 


54 


740 


NAME, 


Lock, William, 
Loomis, Henry, 
Loomis, Horatio G. 
Manierre, Edward, 
Marshall, James A. 


The Calumet Club. 


DATE OF ARRIVAL. 


1839, 

1836, Feb. 
1834, May 8, 
eo Aug. 4, 


MeDaniels, Alexander, Hes May 27, 
1836 


McDonnell, Chas. 
McFarran, Jno. H. 
McNeill, Geo. 
Metz, Christopher, 
Mills, John R. 
Milliken, Isaac L. 
Miltimore, Ira, 
Mohr, M 
Morrison, Daniel, 
Morrison, Ephriam, 
Morrison, Ezekiel, 
Mueller, Jacob, 
Murphy, James K. 
Murray, R. N. 
Myrick, Willard F. 
Noble, John, 
Ogden, Mahlon D. 
Oliver, John A. 
Osborn, A. L. 
Osborn, William, 
Otis, Seth T. 

Page, Peter, 
Patterson, J. G. 
Parker, John, 
Peacock, Elijah, 
Peacock, Joseph, 
Peck, Charles E. 
Pierce, Asahel, 
Plum, W. V. 
Poole 

Porter, Hibbard, 
Powers, William G. 
Price, Cornelius, 
prindiville, J ohn, 


Prindiville, Redmond, 


Xand, Socrates, 
Raymond, Benj. W. 
Reader, D. L. 

Rees, James H. 

ex tord, Stephen, 
Richards, James J. 
Rodgers, ‘Edward K. 
tooney, William, 
Rumsey, George F. 
Rumsey, Julien §S. 
Satterlee, M. L. 
sawyer, Sidney, 
Seammon, J. Young, 
Scott, Willis, 

Seott, Willard, 
Scoville, William H. 


Sherman, Alanson_S. 


Sherman, Ezra L. 
Sherman, J. S. 
Sherman, Oren, 
Skinner, Mark, 
Smith, David S. 
Snowhook, Wm. B. 
Sollitt, John, 
Stearns, Marcus C. 
Steele, James W. 
Stewart, Hart L. 
Stow, W. H 
Stubbs, S. A. 


Sturtevant, Austin D. 


sullivan, Eugene, 
Surdam, Samuel J. 
Taylor, Augustine D. 
Taylor, Edmund D. 


April, 
1837, April, 
1837, June, 
1837, Oct. 
1839, 
1837, June 17, 


1831, June, 
1836. June’ 14, 
1839 June, 
1835, July, 
1834, May 1, 


1837, January, 


1837, June 12, 
1836, October, 
1837, October, 


BIRTHPLACE, 


Philadelphia, 
Burlington, Vt. 
Burlington, Vt. 
New London, Conn. 
London, Eng. 
Kath, N. Y. 
Treland, 
Whitehall N. Y. 
England, 

Baden, Germany, 
Connecticut, 
Saco, Maine, 


AGE. PRESENT ADDRESS. 


66 Chicago. 

62 Burlington, Vt. 
64 Naperville. 

66 Prairie Ave., Chicago, 
70 Chicago. 

64 Willmette. 

71 Chicago. 

67 Chicago. 

62 Chicago. 

57 Chicago. 

65 Chicago. 

63 Chicago. 


Verm’t, [died June 10,’79]66 J anesville, Wis. 


Switzerland, 

New York, 

Oneida Co., N. Y. 
New York, 
Rochbach, Ger. 
Ireland, 
Washington, N. Y. 
Bridgeport, Conn. 
Yorkshire, England. 


Walton, Dela. Ca.2Ni YY. 
Elizabeth, Union Co. ANE 


W atertown, Conn. , 
Ridgefield, Conn. 
Watertown, N. Y. 
Pompey, N. Y. 
Newburg, N. Y. 
Boston, Mass. 


1837, September, England. 


1830 


England. 


1836, November, Montpelier, Vt. 
1833; October 8, East Calais, Vt. 


1836, July, 


1831, October, 
1833, September, Jefferson Co , 


1835, , May, 


New York City. 
Philadelphia. 
iN. & 


Auburn, N. Y. 


1836, September, New York City. 
836, 


Ireland. 


1836, August 23, Ireland. 


1834, February, 


1836, June 5, 
1833, July, 


Wendell, Mass. 
Rome, Oneida Co., 
Milton, Pa. 


1834, August f1, Stroudsburg, Pa. 


1833, June 27, 
1835, July, 


Charlotte, Vt. 
Salina, N. Y. 


1835, November, Ipswick, Mass. 


1837, May,’ 

1836, June 14, 

1835, July 28, 
183 


9; 


1839, May, 


Treland. 

Troy. N. Y. 
Batavia, N. Y. 
Litchfield, Conn. 
Albany N. has 


1835, September, Whitereld, Maine. 


1826, 


New York. 


1826, August 26, New York, 


1837, May, 


New York. 


1836, N ovember 1,Vermont. 


1856, 


Newton, Conn. 


1834, September, Newtown, ING Ye 


1836, Nov. 1, 
1836,"July, 
1836, May, 
1838, 

1836, August, 
1836,’ Nov. 7, 
1832, 

1834, July, 
1838, July, 
1837, Mareh: 
1839, May, 
1833, June, 
1835, April, 


Vermont. 
Manchester, Vt. 
Camden, N. J. 
Treland. 

York, England. 
Naples, N. Y. 
New York. 

New York. 
Utica, N. Y. 


State of New Jersey. 


Thettord, Vt. 
Treland. 

Troy, N. Y. 
Hartford, Conn. 
Virginia. 


EN AEN 


7a Watertown, Wis. 

59 Chicago. 

64 Chicago. 

68 Chicago. 

68 Chicago. 

54 Chicago. 

64 Naperville. 

69 Chicago. 

76 743 Sedgw’k St.,Chicago. 
67 Elmhurst, 111. 

64 Chicago. 

64 Laporte, Ind. 

67 Chieago. 

67 Ann Arbor, Mich. 

64 Chicago. 

63 Vernon, tik 

70 Hinsdale, Mich. 

62 Chicago. 

66 Chicago. 

64 Chicago. 

66 Chicago. 

66 Aurora, Tl. 

75 149 W.Wash. St.,Chicago. 
72 Chicago.Died May 30,79 
65 Chicago. 

59 Chicago. 

54 Chicago. 

538 Chicago. 

76 Des Plaines, Il. 

77 Calumet Ave., Chicago. 
68 Chicago. 

66 Chicago. 

75 Blue rand: Ih. 

54 Evanston. 

66 359 Ontario St., Chicago. 
67 Chicago. 

59 Chicago. 

56 Chicago. 

65 Chicago. 

68 301 Ontario St., Chicago. 
66 Hyde Park. 

69 Chicago. 

71 Naperville. 

56 Chicago. 

68 Waukegan, 

61 Riverside. 

61 Northfield, Ill. 

63 E. Van Buren Street. 
65 Chicago. 

63 Chicago. 

64 Chicago. Z 
65 Chicago. 

63 Chicago. 

71 Chicago. 

76 Chicago. 

72 Chicago. 

71 Chicago. 

63 Chicago. 

68 Chicago. 

62 Chicago. 

84 Chicago, 

76 Chicago. 


NAME. t 


Taylor, L. D. fs 


Taylor, W. H. 
Tripp, Robinson, 
Turner, John, 
Tuttle, Frederick, 
Vail, Walter, 
VanNortwick, John, 
VanOsdel, John M. 
Wadhams, Seth, 
Waite, George W. 
Walter, Joel C. 
Watlon, Nelson C. 
Wayman, Samuel, 
Wentworth, John, 
Whitehead, Henry, 
Wilcox, Sextus N. 
Willard, Alonzo J. 
Williams, Eli B. 
Wilson, John L. 
Winship, James. 
Wolcott, Alexander, 
Wood, Alonzo C., 
Wright, Freeman G. 
Wyman, William, 
Yates, Horace H. 


The Calumet Club. 


DATE OF ARRIVAL. 


1834, June, 
1834, June, 
1834 


1835, April, 
1836, January 3, 
18389, April, 

1837 


1837, June 9, 
1835, July 4, 
1839, Nov. 15, 
1837, June, 

1834, January, 
1833, August, 
1836, October 25, 
1833, September, 
1839, October, 
1838, September, 
1833, April, 

1834, May, 

1826, November, 
1834, June 4, 
1834, August, 
1832, September, 
1837, June, 

1838, March 14, 


BIRTHPLACE, 


Hartford, Conn. 
Newport, Conn. 
Vermont. 
Philadelphia, Pa, ! 
New York. zt 
Rahway, N. J. 
New York. 
Baltimore. 
Goshen, Conn. * 
Walcott Village N. Y. 
Goshen, Conn. 

Essex County, N. Y. 
England. 

Sandwich, N. H. 
Chatham, England. 
Stockbridge. 
Lancaster, N. H. 
Tolland, Conn. 

New York City. 
Palmyra, N. Y. 
Middletown, Conn. 
Farnham, L. C. 
Shaftsburg, N. Y. 
England. 

New York. 


AGE, 


58 Chicago. 

71 Brooklin, Miss, 
74 Chicago. 

72 Chicago. 

70 Chicago. 

65 Newburg, N. Y, 
70 Kane Co.,, Ill. 
67 Chicago. 

66 Elmhurst, Il. 
60 Hyde Park. 

68 Chicago. 

63 San Francisco, Cal. 
69 Chicago. 

64 Chicago, 

68 Chicago. 

53 Chicago, 

62 Chicago. 

80 Chicago. 

65 Chicago. 

53 Chicago. 

64 Chicago. 

69 Granby, P. Q. 
78 Racine, Wis. 

62 Chicago. 

64 Chicago. 


PRESENT ADDRESS, 


+Registered at the first reception or prior to the second. 

*Deceased. 

The second reception was less formal and more social in its 
character, a greater opportunity being given to renew old ac- 
quaintances, at least one instance occurring of two former room- 
mates meeting, who had not seen each other for forty years. 
After prayer by the Kev. Flavel Bascom, of Hinsdale, IIl., an 
address of welcome was delivered by the President of the club, 
Gen. Anson Stager, and responded to by Judge Blodgett. Music 
of “ye olden time” was dispensed by Mark Beaubien, and that of 
the present day by the Chicago Quartette. 

Supper was served in the three billiard rooms, the central 
ornament being a floral ship, the “Illinois,” named after the first 
schooner that entered the Chicago River. Some difference of 
opinion existed among the old settlers in reference to the first 
vessel having been the “Illinois,” but Mr. James L. Hooker, 
who was a passenger on the “Illinois,” wrote under date of May, 
15, 1880, from Watertown, N. Y., that he wished to correct a 
statement made at thie first old settlers’ reception, that the first 
schooner to enter the river was the “Ariadne,” but that it was 
the “Illinois,” Captain Pickering. Believing that, as he says, 
he “knows whereof he writes,” it was decided to put the name 
“Tllinois” on the side of the floral [ship, for if the schooner 
was not the “Illinois” it ought to have been. Besides the above 
mentioned letter, there were a great many other interesting ones 
received, recalling events that occurred in the early days of Chi- 
cago. ‘These letters are mounted in an album for preservation, 
and are highly prized by the Club. Among those that have 
already been published, was one from Mr. A. F. Clarke, now 


742 The Calumet Club. 


living in Marietta, Georgia, giving a brief account of the first 
club ever organized in Chicago. It was formed in the winter of 
1836-7, and was called the Pickwick Club, the members assum- 
ing the names of Dickens’ characters.’ 

The Calumet Club closed its first year, with a membership of 
two hundred and twenty-seven, and with $2.500 invested in 
government bonds. The second fyear the members numbered 
three hundred and sixty, and the bonds amounted to $5,000, par 
value, with $3,540.92. cash on hand. At the present time the 
membership is nearly four hundred, ‘and the surplus funds a- 
mount to $13,000. The club proposes to make a special feature 
of its library, and especially of matters pertaining to early Chi- 
cago. In addition to possessing a number of books relating to 
the city that are now out of print, the club has acquired by gift, 
about two hundred cabinet-size photographs of the Old Settlers, 
a file of the Chicago American for the winter of 1839-40, and a 
map of Chicago in 1834, by J. 8. Wright. 

The old settlers committee has lost during the past year, a 
member that was highly esteemed by all who knew him, Mr. 
James H. Rees. The committee as at present constituted, con- 
sists of the following gentlemen: Silas B. Cobb, Horatio G. 
Loomis, Arthur G. Burley, Frederick Tuttle, Marcus C. Stearns, 
Joel C. Walter, Mark Kimball, Jerome Beecher and Franklin 
D. Gray. ‘ 

The present officers of the Club are Gen. Anson Stager, Presi- 
dent; Mr. Edson Keith, ist Vice President; Mr. A. G. Van 
Schaick, 2nd Vice President; Mr. F. B. Tuttle, Secretary and 
‘Treasurer; and Messrs. W. F’. Blair, Alfred Cowles, J. W. Doane, 
Chas. W. Drew, Jas. B. Goodman, Edson Keith, X. L. Otis, R. 
L. Perry, Anson Stager, F. B. Tuttle, and A. G. Van Schaick, 
Directors. The success of the Club is due in a great measure, 
to the general spirit of concord that has existed among the mem- 
bers. May they continue to 7 

“Smoke the Calumet, the 
Peace-Pipe; 
And as brothers live 
henceforward.” 


Western Associated Press. %43 


THE WESTERN ASSOCIATED PRESS. 


Although the electric telegraph is to-day the indispensable 
auxiliary of the Associated Press, yet news had been collected, 
transmitted and published through individual and associated 
effort for several years prior to the establishment of the Morse 
line between Washington and Baltimore. ‘To the success of the 
news enterprise of James Gordon Bennett of the Wew York 
LTerald, from 1835 to 1842 ean be traced the origin of the Asso- 
ciated Press. It is related that one morning atter the Herald 
had published some exclusive news, a knock was heard at the 
door of the editorial rooms of that paper. 

“Come in! answered the editor. The tall, gaunt figure of 
David Hale (of the Journal of Commerce) entered. One of the 
magnates of Wall street journalism was in the office of a despised 
penny paper! But Hale was a practical man. He saw the 
handwriting plainly enough. There was very little circumlocu- 
tion about him. 

““<J have called,’ said he, ‘to talk about news with you.. Have 
you any objections? 

“«None,’ replied the penny editor. ‘Am always pleased to 
talk on that subject.’ 

“*We propose to join the Herald in getting news,’ continued 
Mr. Hale. ‘Have you any objection to that?” 

There was no objection, and out of this conversation grew the 
system of codperation known as the Associated Press. At first 
the associated arrangements were confined to marine news, after- 
wards to the obtaining of news from the National Capitol by 
means of pony express, and from European steamers by carrier 
pigeons and fast boats. In 1844 the telegraph line came into 
limited use. But it was not until the winter of 1848-9 that the 
New York Associated Press, the parent of all of the associations, 
was formed. At first the Association embraced five papers. 
Now, after over thirty years the seven leading papers of that city 
constitute the corporation. Other codperating Associations, like 
the Western Associated Press and the New England Associated 
Press, have since been organized, and these together constitute 
what is known as the “ Associated Press.” 

The New York organization did not acquire much power and 
influence, until after 1851, when under the management of D. 
Ae Craig, aman possessing remarkable energy ¢ and vers atility of 


*Hudsen’s Journalism in the United States. 


744 Western Associated Press. 


talent. “ Mr. Craig had been an independent news collector in 
1844-5, and a successful one in flying carrier pigeons, under 
great difficulties and obstacles, from ‘the Cunard steamers, as they 
approached Boston. He sold his news to any one who would 
purchase—Jacob Little or James Gordon Bennett—and he at- 
tracted the attention of the Executive Committee in 1849, or 
thereabouts, and was appointed the local agent of the Association 
at Halifax, to look especially after the European news.” He was 
so successful, and exhibited such superior business talent, he was 
invited in 1851 to become the general agent, and assist in arrang- 
ing the details and carrying out the news plans of the Associa- 
tion, which were to follow the rapidly-extending telegraph lines 
and organize a system for the collection and distribution of news. 
The newspaper has always accompanied the march of civiliz- 
ation in America. The Pittsburgh Gazette was established as 
early as 1788, when there were at “the junction of the Alleghany 
and Monongahela, a few straggling houses around a fort; and in 
the following year, on the 8th of August, John Bradford, who 
knew nothing of the printing business, issued the first number 
of The Kentuck y Gazette, at Lexington, then the centre of imi- 
gration for the Ohio Valley. The Cincinnati Gazette, which is 
to- day one of the great newspapers of the United States, dates 
its origin back to Nov. 9, 1798, when the Centinel of the North- 
western Territory was first issued. William Maxwell was the 
pioneer printer in this territory, and, if the claim of the Gazette 
is admitted, in a sense, the founder of that paper. This claim is 
good, if the Liberty Hall and Cincinnati Mercury, which was 
established in 1804, was the successor to the Centinel, as the for- 
mer paper was consolidated with the Cincinnati Gazette in 1806. 
It is only a few years since the name Liberty Hall was dropped 
from the heading, and it is still familiar to thousands of the pa- 
trons of the Gaztte. The scope of this sketch does not admit of 
the introduction of accounts of the origin of the leading papers 
of the cities of the West, but the history of the Gazette, the 
pioneer paper of “the territory northwest of the Ohio,” and a 
member of the Western Associated Press, the most extensive 
news organization in the world, has a peculiar interest. Estab- 
lished in a wilderness, it has aided in the work of civilization, has 
witnessed the union of the Colonial States expand into a mighty 
nation of 50,000,000 of people, the growth of cities hundreds of 
miles further west rivalling and surpassing Cincinnati, the rise 
and fall of hundreds of newspapers, and the remarkable success 
of a few wealthy and powerful journals with which it is ¢o-oper- 
ating to-day. Distinguished men have directed its course and 
contributed to its editorial columns. It early obtained great in- 


Western Associated Press. TA5 


fluence and reputation, as an exponent of political principles, 
under the management of Charles Hammond, one of the most 
remarkable men this country has ever produced, and later, while 
maintaining this influence under the management of Richard 
Smith, has come to be recognized as able in all of the depart- 
ments that go to make upa ‘oreat newspaper. The Gazette was 
first issued as a daily, June 95, 1827, and seven years later, in 
1834, when Stephen 8. L’Hommedien, son-in-law to Charles 
Hammond, was business manager, was printed on the first 
steam power-press introduced in the northwest. 

The telegraph companies were the pioneers in the news-col- 
lecting business west of Philadelphia. There was very little 
commercial business done, and few private messages sent. The 
managers of the line shrewdly directed their operators to employ 
their leisure time in transmitting news items for the daily 
papers, for which the latter paid whatever they chose. The en- 
tire amount collected per week from the Cincinnati papers, was 
eighteen dollars, and occasionally this meagre assessment wi 
not forthcoming. 

Gen. Anson Stager dwells with delight on early experiences in 
the construction of telegraph lines west of Philadelphia, and the 
supplying of news despatches to the struggling newspapers in 
the Ohio valley. Cincinnati then boasted of twice as many 
dailies as she can show now, and although suspensions were fre- 
quent, the number was rarely decreased for more than a day—so 
great was the demand for “organs,” and so inconsiderable was the 
expense of getting out a daily paper in comparison with the cost 
of publication to- ‘day, even in cities of the third or fourth class. 
The circulation of each was then a few hundred, and the news 
was procured from the columns of exchanges. This was the sit- 
uation when the first wire was carried over the mountains by the 
Atlantic & Ohio Telegraph Company, and connectéd with a 
battery in Pittsburg. After that the age of news for cities 
further west did not reach beyond one Sabbath. Foreign com- 
mercial news was then, as now, of great importance to business 
mep, and upon the arrival of vessels at Halifax, was forwarded 
as rapidly as possible to Boston, New York and Philadelphia, 
and thence by wire to Pittsburg. From the latter point it was 
carried by fast riders, who changed horses every ten miles, to 
Steubenville, Wheeling, Zanesville, Columbus, Dayton and Cin- 
cinnati. The work of this enterprising post-news company 
ceased in a few months, as a new company, called the Pittsburgh, 
Cincinnnti and Louisville Telegraph Company, took up the 
enterprise of constructing lines in the west : and the route of the 
post-riders grew shorter, “and the news fresher day by day, until 


746 Western Associated Press. 


the Queen City was reached. The wire reached Cincinnati in 
the spring of 1847, whereas the line of the Atlantic and Ohio 
Company had been opened in Pittsburgh in the last days of 
December, 1846. The route to Cincinnati was by the National 

voad, thence along the river to Louisville. A third company 
was organized, ealled the Ohio and era eis Telegraph Com- 
pany, which extended a wire from Louisville to St. Louis vza Vin- 
cennes. ‘These different companies interchanging business, their 
lines constituted a system. Another svstem, comprising the lines 
of the O’ Reilly and Lake Erie Telegraph Company, extended from 
Buffalo to Chicago, via Cleveland, Toledo and Detroit. This 
found a competitor in the Erie and Michigan Telegraph Com- 
pany, having lines from Buffalo ‘to Milwaukee, and so sharp was 
the rivalry between the managers, for months there was blood on 
the face of the moon. <A third system comprised the Caton lines 
in Illinois and Iowa. : 

In the year 1847, the first notable feat in telegraphing a long 
distance was performed. Henry Clay spoke at Lexington, on the 
13th of November of that year, on the war with Mexico. An 
abstract of the speech was made, expressed to Cincinnati, and 
thence telegraphed to the Wew York Herald. A few weeks 
after that, an attempt was made to get through the message of 
President Polk from Philadelphia, tor the use of the papers of 
Jincinnati. It required three days and nights continuous work 
to transmit it. To-day the same amount of matter could be 
transmitted from Washington to Chicago, with the aid of ten 
wires, which could easily be supplied by the Western Union Tele- 
oraph Company, without seriously interfering with commercial 
business and social messages, in from forty to sixty minutes. 
Then everything was printed in Morse characters, on strips of 
paper, which passed over areel, and it was necessary for the 
most intelligent and experienced operator to spell out the words 
for another who wrote them down. On this important occasion, 
Mr. Stager, who was in charge of the wire, would trust no one 
else, and he read while Richard Smith, then acting as the agent 
of the press, and the most prominent editors, laboriously vy wrote 
down the words of the President. Among these editors, was 
John Brough, of the A’ngwirer, who, in later times, was distin- 
guished in railroad circles, and as the ablest of the war Gover- 
nors of Ohio. Most of the editors gave out before the task was 
completed, but Brough remained with Smith and Stager to the 
end. The ending was so truly absurd as to provoke laughter 
from the three tired workers, and offered a momentary compen- 
sation. It was in these words: “God and Liberty, Jamus K. 
Pore, ‘ 


Western Associated Press. T47 


Some of the papers receiving the manuscript thus, printed the 
message without alteration, to the scandal of the administration 
and all good democrats. There was great indignation at Wash- 
ington, ‘and the head of the offending operator, who had taken 
such a ‘liberty with a grave public document was demanded. The 
telegraphic officials, somehow, could never find the culprit, but at 
this late day there is no harm in letting out the secret: |The 
words “God and Liberty” were added by Mr. James D. reid, then 
Superintendent at Pittsburgh, who was so much elated at reach- 
ing the end of the long State paper, that he expressed his feel- 
ings through the aid of Morse and “ chained lightning,” in the 
well known words of Santa Anna. This is the story of the first 
attempt to transmit by wire a President’s message to the 
papers of the West. 

Many years passed, and many papers died before the New 
York Associated Press entered the Western field in the per- 
son of D. H. Craig, General Agent. It was after the ground 
cultivated by the telegraph companies and local agents began to 
give promise of an abundant harvest. <A brief report was made 
up at Buffalo, not exceeding fifteen hundred words per day, not 
extending later than 11 o’clock p. m., for which the New York 
Association demanded and received excessive rates. The arbi- 
trary management at New York then extended to the control of 
the specials of the} seven papers of that city. But in the West 
a broader system was being developed, which was rapidly ex- 
tended by the war of the rebellion. Henceforth the great papers 
of Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Louisville, Nashville, Pitts- 
burg, Cleveland and Detroit, became noted for ‘special enterprises, 
and no longer were dependent on New York. Dissatisfaction 
with the management in the East was manifested as early as 
1861, when a meeting of representative Western publishers was 
held in Indianapolis, to devise some method of relief. A commit- 
tee consisting of Jos. Medill, of the Chicago 7ribune, and H.N. 
Walker, of the Detroit Free Press, was appointed to secure an 
act of incorporation. This was not accomplished until 1865, in 
which year the Legislature of Michigan granted the desired char- 
ter. On the 22nd of November following, the Western Asso- 
ciated Press was formally organized in the city of Louisville. 
J. D. Osborn of the Journal ot that city, was first chosen Presi- 
dent, but subsequently it being necessary to have the principal 
ofice in the State of Michigan, by which the charter was granted, 
H. N. Walker, of the #ree Press, and H. E. Baker, of the Ti- 
bunc, of Detroit, were made President and Secretary, respectiv- 
ely. The independent attitude of the Western papers brought 
on a conflict with the New York papers. In 1866 a vigorous 


748 Western Associated Press. 


and relentless war between the two associations was waged. Two 
separate reports were transmitted, and the claims of each asso- 
ciation were pressed at a large expenditure of money. .D. H. 
Craig cast his fortunes with the Western press, and his expe- 
rience was invaluable in such a contest. The result was the tri- 
umph of the Western papers. Peace was declared, and a con- 
tract between the two associations was formed in 1867. Since 
then there has been co-operation in the work of supplying the 
press of the United States with news. 

The business affairs of the Western Associated Press have for 
the most part been conducted by an executive committee con- 
sisting of Joseph Medill, Richard Smith and Walter N. Halde- 
man. ‘The present organization is as follows : 

President, Murat Halstead of the Cincinnati Commercial; 
Vice President, Joseph Pulitzer, of the St. Louis Post- Despatch; : 
Secretary, H. E. Baker, of the Detroit Post and Tr tbuney Di- 
rectors, Ktichard Smith, of the Cincinnati Gazette; W. N. Halde- 
man, of the Louisville Courier-Journal; Wm Penn Nixon, of the 
Chicago Jnter-Ocean, D. M. Houser, of the St. Louis @lobe- 
Democrat; ere G. Siebeneck, of the Pittsburgh Chronicle; 
Tra P. Jones, of the Nashville Ameri vcan, I. ¥. Mack, of the 
Sandusky Lvegzster. 

The growth of the newspaper business in the West has been 
very remarkable, and I propose giving a few figures to illustrate 
it: 

The Sentinel of the Northwestern Territory, of January 11th, 
1794, was about equal to one page of its successor, the Cinein- 
nati Gazette of to-day. The Sentinel gave news from France 
dated Sept. 10th, 1798; from Portland, Me., Nov. 11th; from 
Baltimore Noy. 22d. Cincinnati was then four weeks distant 
from Pittsburg by boat. To-day the cities area few hours dis- 
tant by railroad, and conversation may be had by wire without 
inconvenience or loss of time. The Gazette, in the columns of 
its eight pages, contains an accurate register of the tone and- 
transaction of the great commercial marts, and full accounts of 
the most interesting political and social events of the previous 
day throughout the whole world. The Sentinel was printed 
from a hand press, at the rate of a few hundred an hour. The 
Gazette is printed from a Hoe perfecting press, and folded, cut 
and pasted at the rate of from 15,000 to 20,000 copies per hour. 
As striking a contrast would be shown by comparing the first 
number of the St. Louis /tepublican issued in 1808, with the 
issue of any day in 1880. 

The growth of the Chicago. papers has been more rapid and 
remarkable. Like the city, “they are to be set down as the pro- 


Western Associated Press. 749 


duction of the energy and enterprise of one generation. When 
Joseph Medill took charge of the Zribwne in the spring of 1855, 
its daily paying edition was just about 1200 copies, the Tri- 
Weekly 250, and the Weekly 1000. The Associated Press report, 
which was all the telegraphic matter received, then amounted to 
one column, all told, and cost $45 per week. There was not 
much change or enlargement of te eer phic news until 1860, 
when a “midnight” report was m deu>» at New York for the 
Associated Press at an additional ost of $10 a week to each 
paper. During the campaign the Zrwune paid out about $100 
a week for specials. The war caused this to multiply two or 
three times, say $250 per week—about the present average of a 
day. Zhe total cost of issuing the Trrsune in 1855 was about 
$50,000, and for the year 1880 considerably over $500,000. The 
revenue has increased at a greater ratio, and the Zribune is to- 
day one of the most profitable newspapers in the world. 

Wilbur F. Storey purchased the Chicago 7imes in 1862, and I 
believe paid about $12,500 for it. The following approximate 
statement will give a good idea of its growth: 


1862—Cost of telegraphic news about............4-- $ 10,000 
OE ie ec SCL BES! DO Uiiea eine ar sgt or has ot sta B ke de oie 60,000 

$ 70,000 

Je ioeoat of teleoraphic NEWS... uc cd sees ated» ae $ 73,000 
CA VARRET Te). TIE AP Oe OR BS oes Pty eee ee Pe Oe 460,000 
$533,000 

Pi Gost of telecraphi¢ neways... 2... a 5. es dee $ 85,000 
Cle omex pelea ares aie tata a ok ad as w cle signe 440,000 
$525,000 


Telegraphic rates were less in 1879 than in former years, and 
so of white paper and other expenses. In 1880, expenditures 
and receipts fae both been much larger than they were in 1879. 
Mr. Storey has put a value of $1,500,000_on his newspaper es- 
tablishment. 

In 1869, the members of the Western Associated Press paid 
the Western Union Telegraph Company for tolls on specials, 
$175,501.23. The same papers during the year ending June 
30, 1880, received the enormous amount of 29,627,884 words of 
special news, for which they paid for tolls, the sum of $353,672.- 
39. They paid out also for whatis known as “ Regular,” or As- 
sociated Press Report, $141,901.82. Thus the papers of the 
Northwest and of the States of Kentucky, Tennessee and Arkan- 
sas, paid nearly one-half of the amount collected of the press of 


750 Western Associated Press. 


the United States, by the Western Union Telegraph Company. 
During the same period, the papers of the New York Associated 
Press, paid the Tel. Co. for specials, $195,216.62, and for “ Regu- 
lar” dispatches transmitted to New York, $62,953.91. 

The above figures do not include the cost of collecting and 
editing, which was about as much more. 

The reports of the Western Associated Press are collected at 
two great centres—New York and Cincinnati,—and the other 
large cities, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee, 
Indianapolis, St. Louis, Louisville, Nashville and Memphis, re- 
ceive on circuits. This report sent from New York, passes 
through a repeater at either Cleveland or Pittsburgh, to Cincin- 
nati and Chicago simultaneously. The latter repeats to Mil- 
waukee, St. Paul, etc., and the former to Indianapolis and St. 
Louis on one circuit, and to Louisville, Nashville, and Memphis 
on another. The report collected at Cincinnati, is relayed on the 
circuits before mentioned, and on another circuit for Pittsburgh, 
Cleveland, and Detroit. At Cincinnati, Detroit, Chicago, Mil- 
waukee, and St. Louis, condensed reports are prepared and sent 
out on other wires to the papers of the interior cities. Reportis 
also made up at Cincinnati for New York, and at Chicago for 
Cheyenne, Denver, Salt Lake, Sacramento and San Francisco. 

Wm. Henry Sirs. 


The Chicago Law Institute. 751 


THE HISTORY OF THE CHICAGO LAW INSTITUTE. 
BY HON. ELLIOTT ANTHONY. 


In the year 1852 I came to reside in the city of Chicago, hav- 
ing been admitted to the bar at Oswego, New York, in June, 
1851. I had but very few books and felt the need of works of 
reference every day. The firm of Scammon & McCagg had at 
that time by far the largest library of anybody in town, and their 
office was constantly resorted to by members of the profession to 
consult their books, and access to them was neverrefused. They 
were very kind to young men, but those of us who were just 
starting out in life thonght it would be much better to have a 
public library, which should be open to all and which should be 
obtained by aggregating our capital. I broached the subject to 
a number of my acquaintences and associates, and they all agreed 
that it was a proper thing to do, and ought to be done. 

Some time before this, a voluntary association had been formed 
for the establishment of a Law Library, and was actually in ex- 
istence, and they had procured a few books, but it had fallen into 
decay, and many volumes which had belonged to’sets of reports 
and treatises had disappeared, so that it did not amount to much. 

I had heard of the New York Law Institute, which had been 
founded by Chancellor Kent, and ascertained {that it was an in- 
corporated institution, and was in successful operation, and [ 
resolved to visit New York and investigate it. 

Acvordingly, in the summer of 1855 or 1856, I went to New 
York and called at the rooms of the Institute, which were at that 
time in the old City Hall, and examined its charter and by- 
laws, and all of its workings. I found that it had been chart- 
ered by a special act of the General Assembly of the State of 
New York, was a stock company, that its shares were 100 dollars 
each, which the subscribers paid in installments extending over 
some three or four years, and that said shares were subject to-a 
yearly assessment of 25 dollars. It was at that time in a most 
flourishing condition and had on its roll of members all of the 
leading lawyers in the city. 

They did not, at that time, have any printed copies of either 
the charter or by-laws, and as I did not have time to copy them, 
returned without them. In the spring of 1857, I think Sand- 
ford B. Perry, Esq., came here from Boston to practice his pro- 
fession, and we formed a partnership. 

He came on first to look over the town before locating perma- 


752 The Chicago Law Institute. 


nently, and the matter of establishing a public Law Library was 
broached to him, and he became interested in the project and on 
lis return East procured copies of the charter of the old Athe- 
néum and some other libraries, and when he came back brought 
them with him. The provisions of these charters and by-laws 
were examined, but did not suit either of us, and I accordingly 
resolved to write for a copy of the charter and by-laws of the 
New York Law Institute. I wrote to Alexander Spaulding, 
Ksq., late Judge of the Marine Court of the city of New York, 
whom I knew as a fellow-graduate of Hamilton College. In due. 
time the charter and by-laws came to hand, and, to my surprise, 
made a large package, and with them a bill for copying of some 
twenty-five dollars. This was to me, at that time, a large sum: of 
money. After some delay, I got together the amount, enclosed 
it ina letter and sent it to Mr. Spaulding, but it was lost in the 
mail, and I had to make it up. 

The Legislature was to hold a session in the winter of 1857, 
and Mr. Perry and myself set to work to draw up a charter. 

Judge John M. Wilson at that time was Judge of the Court of 
Common Pleas and Van H. Higgins had been elected a member 
of the lower House. It was thought that if their names were 
put in as corporators that it would stand a better chance of pass- 
ing than if obseure and unknown names were inserted. Accord- 
ingly they were fixed upon as corporators and finally my own 
name was added as a mere make-weight, as I was wholly un- 
known. 

After a considerable deliberation, the charter of the New York 
Law Institute was adopted as a model, and the act of incorpora- 
tion drawn up. As I had never been to Springfield or seen any 
legislative body, I resolved to visit Springfield and see to its 
passage. : 

I accordingly visited Springfield, explained the matter to Mr. 
Higgins and other members of the General Assembly and it was 
introduced, and put upon its passage. 

I kept watch of the proceedings, but the session was wearing 
away and I could not learn anything of its fate, although assured 
that it would finally pass. Tearing, however, that it might be 
buried beneath the vast number of private bills—which at that 
time absorbed almost the entire time of the Assembly—I again 
went to Springfield to see about it, and on the 18th day of Feb- 
ruary, 1857, was present when the final roll-call was made. I 
went with the Engrossing Clerk to the Governor, saw it signed, 
and procuring a certified copy of the same from the Secretary 
of State returned home with it. In 1857-8 the new Court House 
was in the process of erection, and I was very anxious to have a 


The Chicago Law Institute. 753. 


room set apart for the future library. Hon. Charles B. Farwell 
was at that time County Clerk and potent in all county matters, 
and with his aid and assistance a room was assigned the Library, 
although not a book had been purchased and the Institute had not 
even been organized. The room was a large one, with an alcove 
looking out upon Randolph street. Nobody but Mr. Farwell, 
myself and the building committee knew anything about this. 
assignment of the room, and things progressed favorably until! 
one day the Board of Supervisors came together, inquired into: 
the matter and resolved to change everything, cut up the room: 
and give the alcove to the Coroner. Mr. Farwellisent for me 
and I used all my powers to persuade them not to do it, but they 
were incorrigible. Finally, in despair, I went to Judge Manierre 
and told him what was up, and he immediately adjourned his 
court and went for the Board individually and collectively, and 
after a great deal of argument and persuasion, order was restored, 
the partition which had been set up to separate the alcove from 
the main room was taken down and things restored as they 
were ante bellum. 

The Institute was in due time properly organized, with Judge 
John M. Wilson as President, Van H. Higgins, Vice-President, 
and myself as Secretary. 

Judge Manierre took a great interest in the matter, advanced 
the money to buy carpets and tables, and fit up the rooms, and 
gave it his support till the day of his death. An arrangement 
was made with themembers of the Old Law Library, by which 
we took their books and gave them stock in the new corporation. 

A part of the money which I had to pay for the charter and by- 
laws of the New York Law Institute, was allowed me, and the 
Institute grew in favor, and books were purchased as the funds 
were supplied by subscription to the stock. The charter was a 
liberal one, and contained all the powers necessary for such an 
institution, and in October, 1871, contained about 7,000 volumes, 
which were valued at about $30,000. All this collection was de- 
stroyed by the great fire of the 8th and 9th of October, 1871, to- 
gether with the court house. We immediately undertook the 
task of restoring it. In this we were most generously aided 
by gifts from personal and professional friends in all parts of the 
country. Through the influence of Governor Hoffman, of New 
-York, we received from the State of New York, a complete set 
of all the New York reports, and from the State of Indiana, a 
full set of their reports. From a report for the year 1871, now 
lying before me, I extract the following: 

«The annual meeting of the Institute, required by its by-laws 
to be held on the first Monday in November, in each year, was 
duly called. 


T54 The Chicago Law Institute. 


“Tt convened November 6, 1871, within the shattered walls of 
the court house, in the ruins of the county court room, adjacent 
to the late library rooms of the Institute. 

‘Smoke still rose from the ruins of the city, and the delibera- 
tious of the meeting were more than once interrupted by the fall- 
ing of crumbling portions of the masonry of the court room. The 
meeting was lar ve and the interest profound. Upon full and 
earnest discussion it was determined forthwith to relay the foun- 
dations of the library, and as speedily as practicable to re- 
store the Institute to the degree of usefulness it had attained 
before the fire. To that end, an assessment for the current year, 
amounting to one-fourth of ‘the par value of the stock of the 

sharehol ders, was levied; a liberal provision for the admission 
of new members was adopted, and its affairs were committed to 
the charge of a board of managers, selected from among the most 
eminent members of the profession.” 

ILaving been instrumental in founding th» institute originally, 
it was thought best that I should try my hand at it again, and I 
was accordingly elected President, and set about the ‘task of re- 
founding it. Rooms were, after a considerable delay, procured 
in the new structure, erected by the city at the corner of Adams 
and LaSalle streets, where it has remained ever since. ‘The Bar 
took a great interest in restoring the library, and to-day it has 
about 18,000 volumes. 

It has had for its Presidents, Judge John M. Wilson, Judge 
Walter B. Scates, Judge George Manierre, Hon. Van H. Higgins, 
Elliott Anthony, Judge W. K. McAllister, Hon. Wm. H. King, 
Hon. James P. Root, John M. Rountree, John N. Jewett, 
Charles W. Reed, George Payson, Lambert Tree, Sidney Smnith, 
Julius Rosenthal, Robert Hervey and George Gardner. 

Julius Rosenthai was for years the librarian, ‘and to him the 
institute is greatly indebted for the judicious care exercised by 
him in the purchasing and procuring of books, and the members 
of the Institute, in order to show their appreciation of his ser- 
vices, did, at the annual election in 1879, vote him an honorary 
meinber for life. 

Among those who took a prominent.part in the organization 
of the Institute were Sanford B. Per ry, George Manierre, James 
P. Root, William H. King, John A. Thompson. and Ita Scott. 

The number of members of the Institute at the present time 
is 406. 


